Illinois States
Stacia Beste has been named to the first team of the 2001 Verizon Academic All-America Spring Womens At-Large Team while fellow Redbird
Zana Friganovic earned second team honors.
Beste, a junior from Shorewood, Wis., is majoring in psychology and has a 3.89 grade point average. She was nominated for the national honor after being a first-team selection of the 2001 Verizon Academic All-District V University Division Womens Spring At-Large Team. She is a two-time member of the United States Womens Cross Country Coaches All-Academic Team and has been selected to the Valley Scholar-Athlete Team all three years.
A third team Verizon Academic All-American last spring, Beste was a second-team member of the 1999-2000 Verizon Academic All-District V University Division Womens Fall/Winter At-Large Team. She has also been named as a 2000 Illinois State Bone Scholar, the highest academic honor on campus.
This season, Beste claimed Missouri Valley Conference titles in the 10,000 meters as well as the 5,000 in the outdoor season. At the MVC Indoor Championships, she won the 3,000 and the 5,000 meters in dominating fashion and was honored as the 2001 MVC Most Valuable Female Athlete.
This award speaks to her academic abilities and commitment, track and field coach Jeff Pigg said. Academic and athletic excellence go hand-in-hand. Stacias a well-rounded person and embodies what we are all about, and that is excellence as a person, a student as well as an accomplished athlete.
Friganovic recently received her degree in political science, carrying a cumulative GPA of 3.94. A two-time Valley Scholar-Athlete selection, Friganovic was named an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Academic All-American in 2000 and was on the AFNI Athletics Honor Roll each of her eight semesters at ISU.
On the tennis court, Friganovic won the No. 2 doubles title with Alana Hoffman at the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships in the fall. In the spring, the Tucson, Ariz., native went undefeated in league play at No. 3 singles to earn a spot on the All-Missouri Valley Conference team.
Compiling an overall singles mark of 25-11 on the year, Friganovics career record of 75-56 ranks eighth on ISUs all-time singles win list. In doubles, she posted an overall mark of 20-12 for a career record of 69-43, second on the all-time doubles win chart.
This is really a pleasant surprise, Redbird womens tennis coach Chris Hoover said. Zana was a great student, getting only one B in four years is pretty amazing. We set goals to be successful in the classroom as well as on the court. Zana did both of those things very well for us in her four years. To know Zana is to know that she will be successful in everything she does because she puts in the time and effort necessary for success.
Beste and Friganovic join football player Adam Waugh and mens tennis player Yew Ming Si as Illinois States four Verizon Academic All-Americans for the 2000-2001 year.
The Verizon Academic All-America Teams are selected by a vote of the 1,800-member College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). To be eligible, an athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2.
