IWU’s Molly Coers Earns Academic All-District

May 10, 2007

Illinois Wesleyan senior Molly Coers has been elected to the first team of the all-District V academic softball squad and will join representatives of seven other districts on the ESPN: The Magazine Academic All-America national ballot.

A senior shortstop, Coers (Manito, Ill., Midwest Central HS) has a 3.92 grade-point average as an accounting major. A District V first team selection in 2005 and second team in 2006, she is a member of the Order of Titans academic and athletic honorary and was a Growmark Scholarship recipient.

This season, Coers leads IWU with a .408 average and is tied for the school record for most runs in a season (46). Her 64 hits is second most to the school mark of 77 (Brynn Hasse, 2003) and her 24 steals is fifth best in an IWU single season.

She is Illinois Wesleyan’s all-time leader in hits (198) and runs scored (132), is second in steals (68) and her career .383 batting average is third best.

A first team all-Great Lakes Region selection and a first team all-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin choice in 2007, Coers was second in the league with a .444 average and led the conference with 24 hits. She was second in runs scored with 18 and tied for the league lead with three triples.

The all-district teams were chosen by a vote of members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario. 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.

Since the program began in 1970, Illinois Wesleyan student-athletes have earned a total of 103 Academic All-America berths, a total eclipsed by only six other schools, including Nebraska, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, 309-556-3206