June 27, 2007

Chicago, Ill.- Five UIC student-athletes were selected to the 2007 Spring Academic All-Horizon League teams for their excellence in competition and the classroom, the league office announced on Wednesday.

Peter Ifft (baseball), Ashlee Ackerman (softball), Grace Gill-Morlis (women's tennis), Oscar Pina (outdoor men's track and field) and Lisa Petty (outdoor women's track and field) each earned selection.

Ifft, a redshirt freshman pitcher, made five appearances on the mound during his rookie campaign. Away from the field Ifft posted a perfect 4.0 grade point average as an engineering major and was named UIC's Male Student-Athlete of the Year.

Ackerman, a 2007 All-Horizon League First Team outfielder in her first season at UIC, owns a 3.49 cumulative GPA while majoring in sociology.

Gill-Morlis, who also earned All-Horizon League First Team honors following a stellar junior campaign that culminated in UIC's 11th consecutive conference championship and a ninth straight NCAA postseason appearance, finished the 2006-07 academic year with a 3.78 GPA as a business major.

Pina finished his sophomore year at UIC with a 3.90 GPA as a major in criminal justice. He also helped the Flames earn a second-place finish at the 2007 Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Championships as a triple jump specialist.

Petty completed her outstanding four-year career at UIC as one of the Flames' top distance runners and one of the athletic department's best students. An Academic All-League selection for the third consecutive year, Petty finished with a 3.71 GPA while majoring in the teaching of history.

Five of UIC's six spring sports and four different classes were represented in the selections.