Senior caps brilliant career with distinguished honor
LEXINGTON, Va. - Senior pole vaulter and decathlon specialist Ty Denby (Scottsville, Va./Fluvanna Co.) of the Virginia Military Institute track and field program has been honored as a first-team selection of the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Men's Track and Field/Cross Country Teams for the University Division. The teams were voted on and selected by the College Sports Information Director's of America (CoSIDA). The official announcement came earlier this afternoon when the teams were released by the national coordinator of men's track and field and cross country.A chemistry major with a minor in business and a concentration in Spanish, Denby graduated last month as a distinguished graduate with institute honors and a 4.0 cumulative GPA. This recognition completes a climb of sorts for Denby, who now has been selected as an Academic All-American by CoSIDA in each of the last three years. Denby garnered third-team honors as a sophomore in 2003 and was named to the second team in 2004 as a junior. Verizon sponsored the awards program in both 2003 and 2004 before ESPN The Magazine began sponsoring it for the 2004-05 school year. This year marks the first time that Denby received first-team honors.
Furthermore, Denby is the second cadet-athlete from the Keydets to be named a first-team Academic All-American by CoSIDA this year. Denby joins senior Tom Petykowski (Virginia Beach, Va./Cox) of the men's swimming team who was honored just last week as an At-Large University Division selection. In the history of the VMI track and field program, Denby is just the second ever cadet-athlete to be named an Academic All-American by CoSIDA and the first to be honored as a first-team selection. Denby is also just the seventh Keydet to ever receive first-team academic all-american honors from CoSIDA in any sport.
A team captain as a senior, Denby enjoyed a strong college career as a member of both the VMI indoor and outdoor track and field teams. His senior year was filled with accolades and quality performances throughout both seasons.
At the 2005 Big South Conference Indoor Championship Meet on February 19, Denby was named the Big South Scholar Athlete-of-the-Year for the second straight year. He would repeat that honor at the 2005 outdoor conference championship meet in April, giving him a clean sweep of the award at both conference championship meets during his senior year.
Along the way, Denby also impressed with his persistence and dedication for the Keydets. During the indoor season, Denby recorded a personal best of 15' 9" in the pole vault at the Last Chance Meet at Liberty University on February 26 to qualify for the IC4A Championships. He also qualified for the IC4A Championships in the heptathlon with a second place finish with 4,384 points at the VMI Winter Relays on February 5.
At the 2005 conference indoor championship, Denby took second place in the pole vault at 15' 5-1/2". That helped in the team scoring as the Keydets finished second overall out of seven teams with 137 points. Denby was also named to the All-Academic Team at both the indoor and outdoor conference championships this past year.
2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Men's University Division
Track & Field/Cross Country Teams
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN OF THE YEAR: Marc Steckler (North Dakota State)
FIRST TEAM
Name.................... School.................. Dist........ Year....... Hometown............ GPA......................... Major Andrew Aakre......... North Dakota St...... VII.......... Sr........... Stephen, MN.......... 3.72........... Civil Engineering Ryan Bender.......... Duquesne............... II............. Sr........... Indiana, PA............ 3.87.................... Pharmacy Nathan Brown ........ Wisconsin ............. V ........... Jr. .......... Madison, WI .......... 3.985 ............. Biochemistry Adam Davis ........... Rice ...................... VI .......... Sr........... Spring, TX.............. 3.96................... Economics Ty Denby.............. Virginia Military.... III........... Sr........... Scottsville, VA...... 4.00................... Chemistry Jared Essler........... North Dakota St...... VII.......... Sr........... Minot, ND............... 3.83.... Social Science & PE Steve Holland......... Long Beach State... VIII.......... Jr............ Whittier, CA........... 3.96..................... Business Dirk Homewood...... Northern Iowa......... VII.......... Sr........... Cedar Falls, IA........ 3.77............ Math Education Andrew Maloney..... Saint Francis (PA).. II............. Sr........... Toronto, Ontario...... 3.96................ Management Todd Mobley........... Notre Dame............ V............ Sr........... Bloomfield, MI......... 3.854......... Business (MBA) Jonathan Severy .... Colorado................ VII.......... Sr........... Aspen, CO............. 3.756................. Philosophy Andrew Sherman.... Butler .................... V ........... Grad....... Swindon, England... 4.00.................... Education Marc Steckler......... North Dakota St...... VII.......... Sr........... Fargo, ND.............. 3.99 .......... Mechanical Eng. John Tumbleston..... Elon....................... III............ Jr............ Boone, NC............. 3.99... Physics/Science Edu. Jaanus Uudmae...... Arkansas............... VI........... Sr........... Tallin, Estonia......... 4.00 ....... Computer Science