Eight Sooner Tennis Players Earn Academic All-Big 12 Honors

April 25, 2001

NORMAN, Okla. - The Big 12 Conference announced its 2001 All-Academic Tennis teams today and eight University of Oklahoma student-athletes, five women and three men, were on the list.

Sophomore Chris Mitchell highlights the list of honorees as one of just seven student-athletes from around the conference with a perfect 4 .0 grade point average. Mitchell is a zoology major from Tulsa, Okla. and competes at the No. 3 singles position for the Sooners. Joining Mitchell on the men's first team is fellow sophomore and Tulsa, Okla., native Matt Ogle. Ogle is majoring in finance and plays No. 2 singles. Mitchell and Ogle also combine to form OU's No. 1 doubles team.

Senior Julio Martinez, the Sooners' No. 1 singles player, was selected to the second team. Martinez hails from Algoria, Spain, and is majoring in health and sport science. He competes at No. 2 doubles as well.

Sophomores Melissa Mendieta and Joni Helleland, along with redshirt freshman Tiffany Streeter, were selected to the women's first team. All three student-athletes are first-time honorees. Mendieta has played the majority of her matches at No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles with senior Viviana Mracnova. She is a native of San Jose, Costa Rica, and is majoring in managment information systems. Streeter and Helleland have alternated playing the No. 5 and No. 6 slots in the singles. Helleland is from Ada, Okla., and is majoring in university dtudies, while Streeter, an elementary education major, is from Claremore, Okla.

Mracnova and sophomore Annette Bryntesson were selected to the second team. Mracnova has earned Academic All-Big 12 accolades in all four of her seasons at OU. The Zvolen, Slovakia, product is the Sooners' top singles player and finished the regular season with a 13-4 overall record. Bryntesson is from Perth, Australia, and plays the No. 2 singles slot. She is a health and sport science major.

To qualify for Academic All-Big 12 status, student-athletes must maintain a 3.0 grade point average either cumulative or in two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of his/her team's scheduled contests. Freshman and transfer student are not eligible in their first year of academic residence.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Eight Sooner Tennis Players Earn Academic All-Big 12 Honors

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