Freddie Howard
July 16, 2007
Murphy Candies, Jr.
July 18, 2007
For the fourth consecutive year, LSU outfielder Leslie Klein was named a first-team All-American by the Jewish Sports Review.
A third-team NFCA All-American and second-team All-SEC selection, Klein remains the only freshman to earn All-America honors in LSU history. The Sunrise, Fla., native is also just the second LSU player to be named an NFCA All-American three times, joining former pitcher Britni Sneed with a trio of All-America honors.
The center fielder became one of the most prolific athletes in Tiger softball history as she broke the LSU records for career slugging percentage at .607, doubles with 64, home runs with 32, runs batted in with 192 and total bases with 467. In addition, she ranks second in career sacrifice flies with 11, third in career hits with 279, fourth in career walks with 75, fifth in career triples with 14 and sixth in career stolen bases with 57.
This past year Klein broke the LSU single-season doubles record, finishing second in the SEC in league history with 22 doubles, which ranked 12th in the NCAA in doubles per game. Leading the team in RBIs, she finished second in single-season RBIs with 60, ranking 42nd nationally in RBIs per game. Klein also ranked in the top 10 in the SEC in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, hits, RBIs, doubles, triples, total bases, walks and sacrifice flies. She broke her own school record with 17 multiple-RBI games, while breaking the LSU career multiple-RBI record with 52. Klein led the Tigers with 15 game-winning RBIs, including two over nationally ranked Florida, one over then-No. 1 Alabama and one over No. 1 Tennessee, one over No. 19 Florida in the SEC Tournament championship game and one against No. 16 Stanford in the NCAA Palo Alto Regional championship game.
The Jewish Sports Review is a bi-monthly publication that has been recognized as the foremost authority on Jewish athletes in sports. The All-America softball team was comprised of Jewish athletes from NCAA Division I, II and III schools.
MAKING THE GRADE
A total of 63 LSU student-athletes were named to the 2007 SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll.
The nationally ranked LSU men’s and women’s track teams topped the list of teams with members on the Honor Roll, placing 15 women, including Anna Lyons, who sports a perfect 4.0 grade point average in human movement, and 15 men on the list, including Isa Phillips, who won the 400-meter hurdles title at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
In addition, eight members of the Tiger baseball team made the list, while five members of the nationally ranked softball team were honored, including Academic All-American Dee Dee Henderson. Six men’s golfers and six women’s golfers, including two-time defending Louisiana Golfer of the Year Melissa Eaton, were on the list. Six men’s tennis players, including All-Americans Danny Bryan, Colt Gaston and Ken Skupski, and two women’s tennis players were honored.
A total of 861 student-athletes were named to the 2007 SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll. South Carolina topped the list with 104 student-athletes on the spring academic roster. Florida was next with 86 honorees, followed closely by Georgia with 80 spring student-athletes honored. Both South Carolina and Georgia field equestrian teams in the spring that figure into their total number of spring honor roll recipients.
Each student-athlete must 1) have a GPA of 3.00 for either the preceding academic year or have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or above at the nominating institution; 2) be on scholarship, a letter winner or have participated on a varsity team for two years if non-scholarship; 3) have completed 24 semester hours of non-remedial credit at the nominating institution; and 4) have been a member of the varsity team for the sport’s entire NCAA Championship segment.
The 2007 SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2006 Summer, 2006 Fall and 2007 Spring terms.
MECK, RATHER HONORED
Two members of LSU women’s golf team have been named to the National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar team.
Kim Meck and Alexis Rather, who will both be seniors this coming season at LSU, are both multiple All-American Scholars as chosen by the NGCA.
The criteria for selection to the All-American Scholar Team are some of the most stringent of all college athletics. The minimum cumulative GPA is 3.50 and student-athletes must have competed in at least 50% (Division I) or 66% (Division II & III) of the college’s regularly scheduled competitive rounds during the year.
Meck, All-American Scholar for the third straight year, hails from Austin, Texas and Rather, who also was named an All-American Scholar last year, is from Tupelo, Miss. Meck is a finance major and Rather is majoring in mass communications.
LSU centerfielder Leslie Klein reaped first-team All-American honors for a fourth consecutive season.
- Photo by STEVE FRANZ (LSU)
