Ivey Named Academic AA of the Year

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma senior outfielder Aaron Ivey was named the ESPN the Magazine and CoSIDA's Academic All-American of the Year for baseball on Tuesday.

Each year, the College Sports Information Directors of America name an Academic All-America team in baseball and one of those individuals is selected for the top honor. The award is among the most prestigious bestowed upon any college baseball player. Ivey is the first in program history to receive the award and the first Sooner to receive the honor since Stacey Dales (women's basketball) in 2002.

"This is very exciting and I consider this an extremely high honor," Ivey said. "I believe it's important to have people recognize academics in college athletics today. Winning a prestigious award like this really makes you realize the benefits of all the hard work and it's awesome for that to be highlighted, especially on a national level. That makes it even more special."

Ivey is majoring in Energy Management and has earned a 4.0 GPA in every semester at Oklahoma. He has two semesters remaining at OU as is set to graduate in May of next year.

The award also means that the Oklahoma City native is a First Team Academic All-American for 2007, the first in program history to earn that honor (first or second team) in consecutive seasons.

Ivey, along with former teammate Ryan Rohlinger, both received second team honors in 2006. Ivey joins Emeel Salem (Alabama) in 2007 as the only repeat members from last year's team.

A four-year letterwinner, Ivey finished the 2007 season as the team's leader in stolen bases with 23 (most since Reggie Willits stole 37 in 2003) and he ranked second in batting average with a .351 clip. Ivey, who was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention this season, hit .298 over his career which spanned 185 games, he also swiped 48 bases in that span.

In addition, Ivey was named a First Team Academic All-Big 12 member on May 15. It marked the third time in Ivey's career that he was selected to the first team (first year players are not eligible for nomination). Ivey is one of four Sooners in program history to be named to the first team on three occasions, joining Casey Bookout (1997-99), Chris Ebright (1987-89) and Matt Reubel (1989-91).

Earlier this month, Ivey was named one of ten finalists for the Baseball Division of the 2007 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Fan balloting is still being accepted on seniorclassaward.com through June 6 and will be combined with votes from coaches, media and sponsors to determine the recipient of the 2007 award.

"Aaron epitomizes the type of student athlete we recruit at the University of Oklahoma," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. "Individuals like Aaron are few and far between. He was a role model for this team through his outstanding leadership in the classroom, which always carried over to his performance and attitude on the field."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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