UNK Wrestling: Howard Tabbed as At-Large Academic All-American

Jul 17, 2024 / UNK Athletics

Photo Credit: UNK Athletics

Kearney, Neb. – Redshirt sophomore heavyweight Crew Howard has earned second-team Academic All-American honors as selected by the College Sports Communicators (CSC).

The NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA At-Large Academic All-American teams were released today. The “At-Large” category includes a variety of sports including wrestling, lacrosse, men’s volleyball, skiing, and water polo.

To earn this honor, a student-athlete must first qualify for the Academic All-District team. That includes a 3.50 cumulative grade point average and, for wrestling, to have competed in 70% of a team’s scored events. Next, each school is limited to six At-Large nominees per gender with top candidates forwarded to the national committee where CSC member vote on the makeup of the Academic All-American squad.

Howard (Creston, Ia.) was one of Division II’s top heavyweights in 2023-24, going 29-4 and finishing third at the NCAA Championships in March. Nationally ranked throughout the season, he recorded eight falls, four tech falls and five majors en route to also winning a region title and earning second-team All-MIAA honors.

Off the mat, Howard maintains a 4.00 GPA in Business Administration and was the MIAA “A Game” winner for having the highest GPA/most credit hours this past season among league wrestlers. He also was a National Wrestling Coaches Assoc. (NWCA) Scholar All-American.

He is the fifth Loper wrestling CSC/CoSIDA Academic All-American, following current head coach Dalton Jensen (2012), Mark Fiala (2014), Matt Malcom (2019) and Josh Portillo (2019).