Hazewinkel Earns Academic Honor

June 13, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - Sam Hazewinkel, who closed his Sooner career as the 2007 NCAA runner-up at 125 pounds, was named to the first team of the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America men's at-large first team.

Selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the team honors excellence in the classroom and competition. Hazewinkel, who has a 3.52 cumulative GPA in communication, advanced to the national ballot after earning first team All-District VI honors in May. He was one of 18 student-athletes who were named to the national first team.

Nominated by members of CoSIDA, candidates for the Academic All-America team must be a starter or key reserve with legitimate athletic credentials and at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale. They must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at the school and they must have completed one full academic year at the school. The at-large teams are filled with student-athletes from sports that don't have individual Academic All-America teams. At OU, those teams include wrestling, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's golf, and men's and women's gymnastics.

Hazewinkel finished the season 24-1 and ended his Sooner career with a 131-10 record. A native of Pensacola, Fla., Hazewinkel is a four-time NCAA All-American, one of only nine Sooner wrestlers all-time to earn All-America honors four times. His 2007 runner-up finish followed three third-place finishes. He won the Big 12 title at 125 pounds three times and was second once. He was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the 2007 Big 12 Championships and ended his career ranked ninth all-time on the OU career win list. He is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 first team honoree and his selection to the CoSIDA All-District Academic team in May was his first. He is a two-time member of the President's Honor Roll and has been named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll and as a Sooner Scholar list 10 times.

He has been very involved with the Olympic wrestling program and currently is ranked number one of the Olympic ladder. He won the 2005 U.S. National title and added the 2007 Greco-Roman national title after entering competition unseeded. He was named Most Outstanding Wrestler after the 2007 title following his wins over the number one and number two seeds. He finished fifth at the 2007 U.S. World Team Trials, hosted by USA Wrestling, earlier this month.

The women's at-large team will be released on Thursday. Sooner gymnast Brittney Schumann is a finalist for that team.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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