North Carolina soccer standout Yael Averbuch, who helped the Tar Heels with their 19^th Division I Women’s Soccer Championship December 7, and Mount Union quarterback Gregory Micheli, who leads his Purple Raiders into the Division III Football Championship game this Saturday, are among standout student-athletes selected as the 2009 NCAA Today’s Top VIII.

The Today’s Top VIII award recognizes current student-athletes who have completed their athletics eligibility for their success on the fields and courts, in the classroom and in the community. Recipients will be honored at the NCAA Honors and Delegates Celebration January 15 at the NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C.

In addition to Averbuch and Micheli, the 2009 Today’s Top VIII are:

• Kirby Blackley, Findlay, outdoor and indoor track and field
• Dylan Carney, Stanford, gymnastics
• Kristi Miller, Georgia Tech, tennis
• Louie Sakoda, Utah, football
• Katy Tafler, Grand Valley State, soccer
• Angela Tincher, Virginia Tech, softball

The Top VIII honorees are selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, which is composed of eight athletics administrators at member institutions and nationally distinguished citizens who are former student-athletes.

Following are summaries of each honoree’s achievements:

Yael Averbuch

North Carolina

Soccer

A talented senior who started every game of her collegiate career and played on two of North Carolina’s NCAA national championship teams, Averbuch has also achieved success internationally as a current member of the U.S. Under 23 squad and as a former member of the U21, U20, U19, U17 and U16 national teams. The two-time consensus first team all-American was chosen as the Soccer Buzz and Top Drawer Soccer national player of the year in 2006. That same year she was named as the Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

Averbuch, a psychology major, is a three-time ACC Academic Honor Roll selection. In 2007, she received the inaugural ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, presented annually to the top student-athlete in each of the league’s sports.

In addition to serving on the campus and ACC Student-Athlete Advisory Councils, Averbuch was active in the Ronald McDonald House and the Carolina Dream program, which gives deserving families opportunities to build affordable homes.

Kirby Blackley

Findlay

Outdoor and indoor track and field

In addition to earning national championships in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles, Blackley is a 10-time all-American and 14-time Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion. The 2007-08 GLIAC Athlete of the Year and 2005 GLIAC Field Athlete of the Year holds or shares six school records and is a three-time Findlay female athlete of the year.

Blackley has proven to be as quick in the classroom as she is on the track, earning Academic All-America honors and the GLIAC Commissioner’s Award, which is presented to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically.

Blackley, an NCAA Leadership Conference participant, was an active member of the campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the Black Student Union and the Marketing Club. She also served as a resident assistant, volunteered as a note taker for handicapped students and assisted with track clinics at the university.

Dylan Carney

Stanford

Gymnastics

Carney, a five-time all-American, led the Cardinal to a national-runner up finish (2008) and pair of third-place finishes (2006, 2007) at the NCAA national championships during his career. The 2006 NCAA national co-champion and 2007 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation co-champion on the horizontal bar, Carney also excelled on the international stage as a two-time silver medalist at the Winter Cup Challenge.

A 2008 NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship recipient and 2007 Rhodes Scholarship finalist, Carney earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biological sciences at Stanford. He was a three-time first team Academic All-America selection and a four-time MPSF all-academic pick.

Carney was an EMT basic volunteer with Stanford’s EMS and served as a patient intake volunteer at the Arbor Free Clinic. He was a member of the Pacific-10 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was involved with Youth Olympics and Special Olympics.

Gregory Micheli

Mount Union

Football

The 2008 Gagliardi Trophy winner as the most outstanding Division III football player, Micheli, was a member of two NCAA Division III national championship and four Ohio Athletic Conference title teams at Mount Union. A first team all-American and two-time first team all-Ohio Athletic Conference pick, he was the 2007 Mike Gregory Award winner as the conference’s top offensive back.

The mathematics and physics double major was named as the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American of the Year for the college division and was a finalist for the Draddy Trophy. At Mount Union, Micheli received the 2006 Wilbur and Burdella Stuckey Mathematics Prize as the top freshman in mathematics and earned the 2008 Physics Faculty Prize for the Most Outstanding Third Year Physics Student.

Micheli was an active member of the campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and he oversaw the football team’s Raider Buddy Program and wrote a weekly blog for NCAA.com.

Kristi Miller

Georgia Tech

Tennis

 Working from the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles positions, Miller helped the Yellow Jackets capture Georgia Tech’s first NCAA team title in 2007. The school’s career record holder in singles wins, doubles wins and singles winning percentage, she was the 2006 Honda Award winner for tennis and was chosen as the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year.

The 2008 CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine At-Large Academic All-American of the Year, the history, technology and society major also received an ACC postgraduate scholarship. The four-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete participated in a research grant to assist a Georgia Tech history, technology and society professor write a book on African-Americans in the American West.

Miller won the 2008 National ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship. In addition to completing a part-time internship with state Representative Bill Hembree, chair of the Higher Education Committee for Georgia, Miller was the community service chair for the campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Louie Sakoda

Utah

Football

All-American punter and placekicker Sakoda was a two-time Mountain West Conference Special Teams Player of the Year and ranked in the top five in the league’s career records for kicking points and overall points, field goal percentage, field goals made, punts and punting yards. A four-year starter at punter and a three-year starter at kicker, he was captain of the special teams unit.

A finalist for the 2008 Draddy Trophy, Sakoda was recognized as a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete, an honor that was accompanied by an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. The marketing (business) major was a three-time MWC Scholar-Athlete, the league’s highest academic honor.

Sakoda volunteered to speak with local Pop Warner teams, worked with local high school kickers and helped coach local camps. As part of a class project, he also worked with the International Rescue Committee to raise money for humanitarian efforts around the world.

Katy Tafler

Grand Valley State

Soccer

Tafler, a two-time Daktronics Division II player of the year, is one of 17 players in the division’s history to record at least 40 goals and 40 assists after registering 111 goals and 40 assists in her career. She led the division in points and goals per game twice. The two-time Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year also led the league in goals and points for four straight seasons and is Grand Valley’s all-time leader in points and goals.

A recipient of the 2007 GLIAC Commissioner’s Award for Academic and Athletic Excellence, Tafler, a biomedical science major, was a 2007 National Soccer Coaches Association of America scholar-athlete and a 2006 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American.

Tafler volunteered at a local emergency room transporting patients and assisting nurses. She served as a Science Olympiad volunteer, was secretary of the campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was member of the Athletes Who Care volunteer program.

Angela Tincher

Virginia Tech

Softball

The 2008 USA Softball national player of the year and a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year twice led the nation in earned-run average, and her 2,149 career strikeouts ranks third in NCAA history. In addition to establishing 12 school records, she is the ACC career record holder for wins, strikeouts, complete games and innings pitched.

Tincher, the recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, was recognized as the 2008 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American of the Year. The finance major graduated summa cum laude and has been admitted to Virginia Tech’s business school with plans to pursue an MBA.

A member of Omnicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership society for college students, Tincher participated in the Lunch Buddies program and a softball clinic at a local elementary school. She also was active in the 2006 Read Across America Week.