Two women basketball players have earned conference and national recognition for athletics and academics. Junior forward Kate Endress (Evansville/Memorial H.S.) has been selected to the 2004 Verizon Academic All-District V and the Academic All-America Women's Basketball teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Senior guard Johna Goff (Fortville/Mount Vernon H.S.) is the recipient of the 2004 All-Mid-American Conference First Team honorable mention.

Endress has earned selection for the second-straight year to the Verizon team, making her the first female basketball player in school history to reap First Team Academic All-America accolades.

Selected to the 2004 All-Mid-American Conference First Team, Endress is just the sixth player in Ball State's 30-year women's basketball history to earn first-team distinction.

A six-foot forward, Endress started 22 games this season and averaged 18.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, placing her second in the Mid-American Conference in scoring. She also is ranked number one in the league in three-point field goal percentage (.425), fifth in field goal percentage (.484), 11th in defensive rebounds (6.9), 12th in free throw percentage (.774), and 20th in rebounding.

Endress totaled 21 double-digit scoring efforts this season, including 13 games with 20-or-more points. She logged two double-doubles and led the team in both scoring and rebounding six times. She reached the 1,000-point career scoring plateau January 3 against Marshall.

Endress, who garnered MAC Player of the Week honors once and MAC Scholar-Athlete honors once, was selected as the Most Valuable Player at the East Carolina Lady Pirate Invitational in November 2003.

Endress totaled 1,199 points over the past three seasons ranking ninth on Ball State's all-time scoring list and 86th on the MAC's career charts. In addition, she ranks among Ball State career leaders in rebounds, field goals, three-point goals, and three-point field goals attempted.

Endress led her team with a 3.93 grade-point average as an entrepreneurship major. She is a Ball State Presidential Scholar.

Receiving an honorable mention to the All-MAC Conference First Team, Goff averaged 13.5 points per game, placing her eighth in the MAC. She led the team with 4.6 assists per outing. Goff registered 24 double-figure scoring efforts during the season, including four with 20-or-more points, for a total of 92 in her career. She ranks second in the Ball State record books and 21st in MAC history with 1,614 points.

Goff is Ball State's career leader in three-point field goals made and attempted, and ranks third in league history.

Goff ranks among Ball State career leaders in assists, field goals made, field goals attempted, free throws made, games played, and minutes played. In addition to scoring, Goff ranks sixth in the MAC for assists and free-throw percentage, eighth in assist/turnover ratio, and third in three-point field goals made per game.

Goff is the only player at Ball State to garner MAC Freshman of the Year honors, a 2001 accomplishment.

Two basketball players receive MAC honors

Two members of Ball State's men's basketball team have earned Mid-American Conference honors. Freshman Peyton Stovall (Lafayette/Lafayette Jefferson H.S.) has been selected to the five-member All-Freshman Team in the Mid-American Conference. Matt McCollom (Mt. Zion, IL/Mt. Zion H.S.), a junior member of the men's basketball team, has been named to the five-member Academic All-MAC First Team, as voted by the league's faculty athletics representatives.

Stovall's honor makes him only the eighth Ball State player in school history to earn selection to the All-Freshman Team and the first since Theron Smith earned the honor in 2000.

Stovall, who finished second in the voting for MAC Freshman of the Year, started 26 games, including all 18 league contests. He posted his third-straight double-figure scoring game and his ninth of the season with 17 points at Central Michigan in March. Stovall averaged 15.3 points per game and shot 63 percent from the floor and 57 percent from three-point range.

He led the team in assists and steals, becoming the first freshman in 18 years at Ball State to lead his team in those categories. For the 2003-04 season, he averaged 7.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. Stovall's numbers increased in the 18 league games to 8.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per outing.

McCollom's selection to the Academic All-MAC First Team marks the second-consecutive year he has been awarded the honor. He became the third Cardinal in history to be named to the team twice and is the seventh player all-time to earn first-team selection.

McCollom played in all 29 games with 27 starts. He scored in double figures 12 times, including three games with 20-or-more points. He ended the regular season as the top free-throw shooter in the league at 85 percent. He drilled a career-high 14 free- throws in 14 attempts vs. Akron in February. In MAC games, he averaged 11.9 points in 27.7 minutes per outing.

He scored his 600th career point at Miami January 17 and hit the game-winning three-pointer against the RedHawks to help the Cardinals end an 11-game losing streak at Millet Hall.

McCollom, a business major, has a 3.58 grade-point average.

Vojtasek named to Academic Gymnastics Squad

Courtney Vojtasek, '03, a fifth-year senior member of the 2004 Ball State gymnastics team, has been named to the Academic All-Mid-American Conference Team for the second time in her career. A member of the 2002 Academic All-MAC squad, Vojtasek is the fourth student-athlete in the program's history to receive the honor more than once.

Vojtasek graduated with a 3.71 grade-point average as an accounting major. She is currently working on her MBA at Ball State.

During the course of the 2004 season, Vojtasek was the only Cardinal gymnast to compete in every event of every meet. At the 2004 MAC Championships in March, Vojtasek posted a career-best 9.900 on the floor exercise, to tie for third overall. Vojtasek also tied for fifth on the bars (9.825); tied for ninth on beam (9.750); placed 12th in the all-around (38.600); and scored a 9.125 on the vault.

In addition to her career-high on floor, Vojtasek scored career bests this season of 9.825 on the beam and 39.025 in the all-around during the 2004 season. Her other career bests include a 9.750 on vault (2/16/01) and a 9.875 on bars.

Vojtasek also is a two-time recipient of the MAC Commissioner's Award for Academic Excellence and was a MAC Academic Honor Roll selection as a sophomore.

Four men's swimmers earn academic all-MAC honors

Robert Funk (Indianapolis/Perry Meridian H.S.); Kurtis Leer (Kendallville/East Noble H.S.); Ryan Plantz (Granger/Penn H.S.); and Josh Schum (Mt. Vernon/Mt. Vernon H.S.), have earned Academic All-Mid-American Conference honors for swimming and diving.

Funk, a sophomore who owns the highest GPA on the team with a 3.96, is a chemistry and pre-med major. He posted one individual first-place finish, two individual second-place finishes, and two individual third-place finishes, while earning one first-place finish on a relay team this season. Funk won the 100-meter breaststroke vs. Butler with a time of 1:03.09.

Leer, a sophomore, has a 3.56 GPA as a secondary education major. Leer earned All-MAC First Team honors for his performance during the MAC Championship. He recorded 12 first-place finishes, nine second-place finishes, and two third-place finishes individually this season and was a member of five winning relay teams.

Plantz, a junior business major with a 3.53 GPA, captured Ball State's top one-meter diving score of the season with a 306.62 and the team's best three-meter diving score at 388.55. He earned seven first-place finishes, four second-place finishes, and two third-place finishes in diving this season.

Schum, a sophomore who has a 3.69 GPA as an urban planning and development major, recorded the team's second-fastest time of the season in the 100-meter free and the third-quickest time of the season in the 200-meter freestyle. Schum recorded a total of four first-place, two second-place, and four third-place individual finishes this season.

Track, field members chosen for academic all-conference team

Aaron Hoover (Wakarusa/Northwood H.S.) and Paul Panning (Angola/Ft. Wayne Concordia H.S.), from the Ball State men's indoor track team, and Jill Scully (Valparaiso/Valparaiso H.S.), a member of the women's team, have each earned Academic All-Mid-American Conference honors.

Hoover, a senior, owns the team's second-highest GPA with a 3.54 as an entrepreneurship major. He recorded the team's fastest time of the season in the 5,000-meter at the Indiana Invitational in February and posted Ball State's second-fastest time of the season in the 3,000-meter with a time of 8:47.54 at the Notre Dame Triangular in January.

Panning, a senior, has a 3.42 GPA as a management and information systems major. He set a new school record of 17'5 1/2" on the pole vault at the Indiana Invitational, which qualified him for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Scully, a sophomore mathematics major with a 3.405 GPA, set a new school record in the 3,000 with a time of 9:46.48 at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup earlier in the season. She also set a Ball State Field Sports Building record in the mile, with a time of 4:58.89.

At the buzzer...

Football: The Ball State Football recruiting class for the 2004 season has been selected as the number-one recruiting class in the Mid-American Conference by the Prep Football Report.

Linebacker Bryon Miles (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park H.S.) is listed as the key recruit for the Cardinals, and defensive back Dominique Bryson (Chicago, IL/Hubbard H.S.) is listed as the "sleeper" of the recruiting class.

Golf: Kyle Cox (Springport/Blue River Valley H.S.) will forego his final two seasons of basketball at Ball State in order to compete for the Cardinal men's golf team. Cox, who was red-shirted as a member of the golf team last year, managed a nine-hole average of 35, en route to winning medalist honors five times as a high school senior. A three-time All-Mid Eastern Conference and two-time All-Henry County selection, he was named The Muncie Star Press East Central Indiana Golfer of the Year as a senior.

Soccer: Laura Bandy (Oakville, Ontario/T.A. Blakelock H.S.); Angela Heyer (Zanesville/Homestead H.S.); Sarah Leibel (Cincinnati, OH/St. Ursula Academy H.S.); Lindsay Martin (Cincinnati, OH/Lakota West H.S.); Beth Meyer (Algonquin, IL/H.D. Jacobs H.S.); Rachel Murphy (Zionsville/Zionsville H.S.); and Betsy Wilcek (Elmhurst, IL/York Community H.S.) have each signed a national letter of intent to attend Ball State and compete for the women's soccer team.

Field Hockey: Elizabeth Agliata (St. Louis, MO/Ursuline Academy); Lauren Cruz (Centreville, VA/Centreville H.S.); Nicole Humphreys (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson H.S.); Jamie Kahn (San Diego, CA/Junipero Serra H.S.); Katie Kloeckener (Chesterfield, MO/Nerinx Hall H.S.); Amanda Pavone (Annville, PA/Palmyra Area H.S.); and Theran Teach (Virginia Beach, VA/Ocean Lakes H.S.) have all signed national letters of intent to attend Ball State and compete on the field hockey team.