BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Illinois Wesleyan University senior Sara Powers has been chosen to the first team of the 2001 Verizon Academic All-America ® team for college division softball.

An outfielder from Manhattan (Lincoln-Way HS), Powers graduated with a 3.94 grade-point average as a psychology major. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, a national scholastic honorary for juniors and seniors; Psi Chi, a national psychology honorary; and was recently named to the Order of Titans athletic honorary.

She was a second team CoSIDA academic all-district selection as a sophomore and first team all-district this year and was IWU's female representative on the spring 2001 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin all-academic team.

A four-year regular for the Titans, Powers was a first team all-Great Lakes Region selection and first team all-CCIW choice this spring as she led the Titans with a .357 batting average.

She holds the school records for doubles in a season (15) and career (41), and home runs in a season (9) and career (14). In her career Powers had 165 hits and 99 runs batted in, both of which place her fourth all-time at the school.

Powers was eighth in the league in batting average, tied for the CCIW lead in doubles and tied for third in RBI.

Powers is the daughter of Al and Sue Powers, 223 Brian Ct., Manhattan.

Her selection brings to 97 the total number of Academic All-America berths earned by IWU student-athletes since the program began in 1970. Only Nebraska, Notre Dame, and Bucknell have more total Academic All-Americans than Illinois Wesleyan.

To be considered for the GTE 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. The teams are chosen by a voting board representing the 1,800 members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Senior infielder Jill Hocking of St. Mary’s (Minn.), who has a 3.93 grade-point average in accounting, was named the College Division Team Member of the Year.