AUSTIN, Texas – The 2019-20 CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large Teams were released Wednesday morning and Gustavus senior tennis student-athlete Michael O’Neil (Edina) was selected to the First Team after earning Second Team honors last season.
O’Neil graduated this spring as a philosophy and economics double major with a 4.00 GPA. Last month, O’Neil was selected as the ITA Central Region Arthur Ashe Award winner. This past fall, O’Neil teamed with Daniel Fochier (Fy., Nootdorp, Netherlands) to win the ITA Midwest Regional doubles championship and earned All-America status. The Edina native captured the MIAC Elite 22 award in 2018 and 2019 and was named to the All-MIAC Singles Team in 2019.
With O’Neil on the team, the Gusties have won MIAC regular season and playoff titles in 2017, 2018, and 2019. They also reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2017 and regional title matches in 2018 and 2019. Since O’Neil joined the team in 2016, the Gusties are 85-29 overall and 31-0 in the MIAC. He finishes with a career singles record of 47-25 overall (17-1 MIAC) and a doubles mark of 51-28 overall (15-2 MIAC).
O’Neil earns Gustavus’s 117th Academic All-America honor, which is the most in the MIAC and 12th most in NCAA Division III. This year’s At-Large Teams feature 45 student-athletes who compete in tennis, ice hockey, swimming, wrestling, volleyball, skiing, fencing, golf, water polo, and lacrosse. O’Neil is one of five MIAC athletes on this year’s At-Large Team and one of 11 with a 4.00 GPA.
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.