Urban Named Third Team Academic All-American

May 28, 2008

CoSIDA 2008 Softball All-America Teams

Illinois Wesleyan junior outfielder Monica Urban has been elected to the third team of the ESPN: The Magazine Academic All-America college division softball squads.

Urban (Wheaton, North HS) has a 3.90 grade-point average as an accounting major and is a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta honorary and the IWU Accounting Society.

This spring Urban led the 30-11 conference champion Titans with a school season record .480 batting average with four doubles, a triple and a home run. A first team all-Great Lakes region and first team all-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin selection, Urban stole 21 bases, seventh most in an IWU season.

After three seasons she has a .428 career average, which is the best at Wesleyan for players with over 200 at bats, and her 67 steals is third most, trailing only Nicole Williams (88, 2001-04) and Molly Coers (68, 2004-07).

To be considered for the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® squads, players must be of at least sophomore standing, have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 (of 4.0), and be a starter or first-line reserve. A voting board representing the 1,800 members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) chooses the teams.

The selection of Urban gives Illinois Wesleyan 109 Academic All-America berths since the program began, a total eclipsed by only eight other schools, including Nebraska, Notre Dame, Penn State, UCLA and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.