Twenty student-athletes -- led by representatives of Belmont University and the University of the Pacific -- have been honored as members of scholar-athlete teams selected by the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA).

Basketball players from Division I-AAA institutions represented in the association were eligible for the second annual teams.

Adam Mark, a senior in computer science at Belmont, and Corinne Wong, a senior in environmental studies and geology at Pacific, were selected as Division I-AAA Scholar-Athletes of the Year.

"We are very proud of these outstanding student-athletes," says Pat Meiser-McKnett, coordinator of the DI-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team Selection Committee and athletics director at the University of Hartford. "They represent the best of Division I-AAA."

Nominees must have earned a minimum 3.200 grade-point average (4.000 scale) in undergraduate study and have been a starter or important reserve with legitimate athletics credentials.

Honorees also must have reached sophomore athletics and academic standing and have completed a minimum of one full academic year at their institution. Each also must have participated in 50 percent of games at a designated position.

A special review committee of Division I-AAA athletics directors selected the teams. Members were Peg Bradley-Doppes, University of North Carolina, Wilmington; Pete Carlon, University of Texas at Arlington; Gary Cunningham, University of California, Santa Barbara; Tom Dillon, Canisius College; Bill Husak, Loyola Marymount University; Ken Kavanagh, Bradley University; Jean Lenti-Ponsetto, DePaul University; Meiser-McKnett; and John Planek, Loyola University (Illinois).

Now in its third year, the mission of DI-AAA ADA is to enhance initiatives common to the Division I-AAA membership (the 90 Division I institutions that do not sponsor football), emphasizing their flagship basketball programs.

The scholar-athlete teams:

Men

Kyle Bankhead, Gonzaga, sports administration; Clint Cuffle, Evansville, civil engineering; Brody Deren, Creighton, exercise science; Drake Diener, DePaul, secondary education; Michael Lindeman, Creighton, business administration; Alex Loughton, Old Dominion, business; Adam Mark, Belmont, computer science; Blake Stepp, Gonzaga, buusiness administration; Ryan Stys, Hartford, economics and finance; Jason Telford, Loyola (Illinois), finance.

Women

Sara Esidore, Quinnipiac, computer information systems; Sarah Kustok, DePaul, communications; Ann Mimm, Niagara, education; Genny Mueller, Bradley, health science; Bridget Murray, Hartford, management; Laura Spanheimer, Creighton, exercise science; Colleen Toetz, Niagara, biology; Maria Viall, Wisconsin Milwaukee, journalism and mass communications; Lisa Willett, UC Santa Barbara, religious studies; Corinne Wong, Pacific, environmental studies and geology.