As student-athletes' talents increase on the fields and courts, so do their successes in the classroom -- so much so in fact that the primary arm for recognizing academic excellence in college sports is having to expand its reach.

Verizon and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) have announced that the Verizon Academic All-America program will honor 816 student-athletes during the 2001-02 academic year, the most in the program's 50-year history and a 19 percent increase over last year's total of 684.

As a result of added participation in soccer and track/cross country programs nationwide, a men's and women's soccer team and a men's and women's track/cross country team will be selected in each of the university (Division I) and college (Divisions II and III) divisions for the first time, increasing the total number of teams from 10 to 12. In past years, soccer and track/cross country were included as part of the at-large teams. The growth will enable the program to honor more student-athletes who qualify under the current guidelines without diminishing the significance of the award.

"We are extremely pleased to be able to expand the program, and it is a credit to all of the student-athletes across the country who have worked so hard over the years," said Dick Lipe, the Bentley College sports information director who chairs CoSIDA's All-America selection committee. "When this program was founded in 1952, it included 22 football players. To be able to honor more than 800 students this year is the result of the program's long-standing reputation and its increase in popularity at college campuses everywhere."

Since the program's inception, almost 12,000 students have earned the title "Academic All-American," including recent notables Shane Battier, Peyton Manning, Ruth Riley, Rebecca Lobo and Nomar Garciaparra. On the all-time list, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, leads university division schools with 185 Academic All-Americans, followed by the University of Notre Dame (137) and Bucknell University (100). In the college division, the top three the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (107), Illinois Wesleyan College (98) and Augustana College (Illinois) (95).

"In my mind, there is no greater honor in college sports than to be named an Academic All-American," said CBS broadcaster Dick Enberg, the program spokesman since 1985. "I am delighted to see the program expand to include many more students, all of whom will carry with them an honor that they will remember for the rest of their lives."