IWU’s Amelianovich Named “Academic All-American of the Year”

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Illinois Wesleyan senior Keelan Amelianovich has been named the College Division Academic All-American of the Year and is a first team choice on the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American men’s basketball team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Amelianovich, a 6-foot-6 forward from Naperville (Neuqua Valley HS), was a second team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American last season. An accounting major with a 3.82 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale), he is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma scholastic honoraries and is one of 10 finalists for the Jostens Trophy, recognizing the outstanding student-athlete in Division III basketball.

For the 20-6 Titans this season, Amelianovich is averaging a team-high 18.2 points and is currently No. 9 in career scoring at IWU with 1468 points. He is tied for second at IWU with 235 3-pointers, behind only Korey Coon (245, 1996-2000) and has 80 3-pointers this year, which is second to his own season mark of 82 set in 2003-04.
He is 37th with 395 career rebounds and his .509 field goal percentage is 13th best. Amelianovich also has 523 career field goals, 16th at IWU.

Amelianovich is a three-time first team all-conference selection and was the league’s “Most Outstanding Player” as a sophomore. This year he led the conference with 3.07 3-pointers per game, was third with a .453 3-point field goal percentage, sixth in scoring (18.3), and 11th in field goal percentage (.520).

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 CoSIDA chooses the teams.

It is the fifth time an Illinois Wesleyan student-athlete has earned the distinction. In 1999 and 2000, Korey Coon was the "Academic All-American of the Year" for men’s basketball. Titan quarterback Lon Erickson was the 1996 College Division Football "Academic All-America of the Year" and outfielder James Rinne won the "Academic All-America of the Year" honor in baseball in 1998.

Amelianovich’s selection give Illinois Wesleyan a total of 102 Academic All-America berths earned by Titan student-athletes since the program began in 1970, a total eclipsed by only six other schools, including Nebraska, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Illinois Wesleyan has 15 first team Academic All-Americans in men’s basketball, a total that is second overall behind only UCLA (with 17). Teams with 13 first team Academic All-Americans are Indiana and Kansas. Other schools ranking highly in first team Academic All-Americans are Duke (12), Notre Dame (11), Kentucky (9), and Brigham Young and Millikin (8). Illinois Wesleyan also has had seven others in men’s basketball that earned second- or third-team Academic All-America honors.

2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America®
College Division Men’s Basketball Team

FIRST TEAM
Keelan Amelianovich, Illinois Wesleyan, Sr., Naperville, Ill., 3.82, Accounting
Dusty Jura, Nebraska-Kearney, Jr., Columbus, Neb., 3.93, Sports Administration
Zach Wheatley, Chapman (Calif.), Sr., Fountain Valley, Calif., 3.97, Mathematics
Andrew St. Clair, Colby-Sawyer College, Sr., Pittsfield, Maine, 3.68, Exercise and Sports Science
Matt Drahos, Bethany (W.Va.), Sr., Wheeling, W.Va., 3.51, Biology

SECOND TEAM
Jason Greenlee, LaVerne (Calif.), Sr., San Dimas, 3.89, Accounting
Troy Ruths, Washington U., So., Sugar Land, Texas, 4.0, Computer Science
Matt Causey, North Georgia College & State University, Jr., Gainesville, Ga., 3.75, Biology
Andy Warnock, Ohio Wesleyan, Sr., Delaware, Ohio, 3.93, Economics Management
Mike Drahos, Bethany (W.Va.), Sr., Wheeling, W.Va., 3.65, Psychology

THIRD TEAM
Chris Braier, Lawrence, Sr., Wauwatosa, Wis., 3.56, Biology
Brandon Bushey, York (Pa.), Sr., Littlestown, Pa., 3.89, Criminal Justice
Alan Bock. Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Sr., Tallmadge, Ohio, 3.99, Biology (Pre-Medicine)
Clayton Barlow-Wilcox, Carnegie-Mellon, Sr., Brookline, Mass., 3.65, Business Administration and Social and Cultural History
Mike D'Auria, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sr., Newton, Mass., 3.49, Materials Science and Engineering

CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, 309-556-3206