Deborah Birrer, a senior on the Illinois State swim team, was named to the 2002 Verizon Academic All-America University Division Womens At-Large Second-Team. Birrer joins Andrea Lovelle (2000) as the only two swimmers in Illinois State history to be elected Academic All-Americans.
Birrer is a native of Plainfield, Ind., and co-captain of the 2001-02 Redbird team. She swam the breaststroke and freestyle and she was a member of the 200 freestyle relay team that finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference.
She is the 27th Redbird student-athlete to become a Verizon Academic All-America and the third from the 2001-02 school year, joining softball player Corey Harris and football player Adam Waugh.
Birrer, an athletic training major with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average, was also named to theMissouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team, received Illinois States Bone Scholar Award, and named to the Verizon All-District V Academic First-Team. After being selected to the All-District Team, members of the eight all-district teams are automatically placed on the ballot for the national team, which is elected by a committee of 90 members of College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The Academic All-America At-Large Teams are selected from student-athletes participating in all NCAA Championship sports other than basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, softball or track and field.
