2018 GOOGLE CLOUD ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT (CoSIDA) - MEN'S AT-LARGE

MINNEAPOLIS -- Four Augsburg University student-athletes were named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District 6 Men's At-Large Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), it was announced on Thursday.

Earning their second straight Google Cloud Academic All-District honors were men's hockey player Nate Flynn (SR, Hastings, Minn./Hastings HS) and wrestler Sam Bennyhoff (JR, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS). Auggie wrestler Victor Gliva (SO, Farmington, Minn./Farmington HS) and men's golfer Brett Buckingham (SO, Glenwood, Minn./Minnewaska HS) earned the honor for the first time in their careers. 

The four Augsburg honorees were the most for any school in the eight NCAA Division III districts nationwide to earn Academic All-District honors in the men's at-large category, which includes student athletes from 12 men's sports: fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling. Only three other Division III schools -- Nebraska Wesleyan, Stevens Institute of Technology (N.Y.) and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) -- had three selections in the men's at-large category.

An Academic All-America second-team honoree in 2016-17, Flynn is an accounting and finance major with a 3.98 grade-point average. Flynn earned All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors for the third straight year in 2017-18. A two-time Academic All-MIAC honoree, Flynn is slated to earn the honor again this summer. He is also a four-time MIAC Athlete of the Week honoree.

A team captain, Flynn earned a reputation as one of the best forwards in the MIAC, standing with a team-best 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points this season, including three power-play goals and two game-winning goals. Among MIAC players in overall statistics, Flynn finished tied for third in points, tied for seventh in goals and tied for third in assists.

He recorded a goal or assist in 17 of his 29 games this season, including nine multi-point games. In his 109-game career for the Auggies, he finished with 51 goals and 47 assists for 98 career points. He was a member of Augsburg squads that won the MIAC postseason playoff title each of the last three years, earning a trip to the NCAA Division III national tournament quarterfinals each time. Augsburg finished 19-10-0 overall, 10-6-0 in MIAC play this season.

Bennyhoff is a physics major with a 3.86 GPA. He has earned National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Scholar All-America honors each of the past three seasons.

Bennyhoff finished his junior season as the NCAA Division III national runner-up at 133 pounds, finishing his season at 35-6 with nine pins, seven technical falls and nine major decisions. He won nine straight matches leading up to the national title match. He won titles at three tournaments this season, including the NCAA Division III Upper Midwest Regional, a regional title he won for the third straight year.

An NCAA national tournament qualifier for the third straight year, Bennyhoff is now 93-22 in his three seasons at Augsburg, with 17 pins, 15 technical falls and 26 major decisions.

Gliva is an accounting major with a perfect 4.00 GPA. This season, was named as the recipient of the NCAA Elite 90 Award as the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average at the NCAA Division III Wrestling National Championships, in addition to earning NWCA Division III Scholar All-America honors for the second straight year.

Gliva finished the 2017-18 season with a 29-8 record, qualifying for the NCAA Division III national tournament for the second straight year, after finishing second at the NCAA Division III Upper Midwest Regional. Of his 29 wins, he had nine pins, two technical falls and six major decisions.

A 2017 regional titlist and All-American with an eighth-place finish at 125, Gliva is 61-15 in his two seasons as an Auggie, with 15 pins, six technical falls and 13 major decisions.

Buckingham is a marketing major with a perfect 4.00 GPA. He is slated to earn Academic All-MIAC honors for the first time this summer. This year, Buckingham was named as an All-MIAC honoree in men's golf, in addition to earning a spot for the first time on the Golf Coaches Association of America Division III/Ping All-Central Region Team. He also earned the 2017 MIAC Elite 22 Award for academic excellence in men's golf, given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average among all-conference honorees at a conference championship in individual sports.

Buckingham had one of the best seasons for an Auggie men's golfer in program history, finishing with a team-best 74.2 stroke average and .861 (534-86) win-loss percentage. Among MIAC golfers, Buckingham finished in a tie for the fourth-best stroke average this season. In 44 rounds over the past two seasons, Buckingham has a 75.0 career stroke average and .815 (1,204-273) win-loss percentage.

Buckingham recorded seven top-10 finishes in his 10 events this season with two wins, including a share of medalist honors at the 2017 MIAC Championships, the fifth Auggie to earn MIAC medalist honors in program history. He finished with a score in the 70s in 18 of his 20 competitive rounds this season, including 14 rounds of 75 or better.

The Google Cloud Academic All-District team is part of the Google Cloud Academic All-America program, as selected by CoSIDA. Top student-athletes from NCAA Division III programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are eligible for inclusion on the District 6 team, one of eight Division III districts nationwide. Student-athletes must have a grade-point average above 3.30 (4.0 scale) and have outstanding athletic credentials. College sports information directors in the district vote for the teams. Google Cloud, a cloud computing services program for businesses, recently signed on as the title sponsor for CoSIDA's Academic All-District/Academic All-America programs.

This is the seventh year of the expanded Google Cloud Academic All-America program, with separate teams comprising NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, along with a College Division team of NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools. First-team Google Cloud Academic All-District members advance to the Google Cloud Academic All-America ballot, voted on by a committee of CoSIDA members. 

The Division III Google Cloud Academic All-America program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the Google Cloud Division III Academic All-America teams program.

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(NOTE: Story includes information taken from CoSIDA Academic All-District release, along with other Augsburg sports releases.)