June 13, 2002

STAMFORD, Conn. - Senior alpine skier Julia Delich (Fernie, British Columbia) has been named to the 2002 Verizon Academic All-America? Women's At-Large Team as selected by members of College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), it was announced today.

Delich is the second Pioneer to earn the honor this week, as graduate student Nordic skier Pietro Broggini (Gallarate, Italy) was named to the men's team on Tuesday. Only the University of Denver and the University of Texas had a pair of scholar-athletes earn first team honors on the at-large squad this season, and it brings Denver's overall total since 1998-99 to eight Academic All-America? honorees.

An international business major and a finance minor with a 3.844 GPA, Delich earned her fourth and fifth All-America honors at the 2002 NCAA Championships with ninth- and sixth-place finishes in the slalom and giant slalom, respectively. She recorded seven top-10 finishes this season, and won the slalom at the Montana State Invitational. She is the University's nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year for 2001-02, and along with Broggini played a large role in the Pioneers' three straight NCAA titles in skiing, giving Denver an NCAA-record 17 overall.

The Verizon Academic All-America Teams are selected by a vote of the 1,800-member CoSIDA. To be eligible, an athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.20 on a scale of 4.00. Sports information directors nominate eligible athletes from their schools who are named to district teams prior to being voted upon the national level.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Verizon Academic All-America? program, which was founded by CoSIDA in 1952 to recognize collegiate student-athletes for their outstanding achievements in the classroom and on the playing field. Over the past 50 years, the Verizon Academic All-America program has grown into one of the most recognized and prestigious collegiate scholar-athlete awards nationwide, honoring student-athletes from all NCAA championship sports.

Under an agreement with CoSIDA, Verizon, formerly GTE, has been the exclusive sponsor of the Academic All-America program since 1985. Verizon, America's literacy champion, strongly believes that literacy is a key ingredient to success and outstanding achievements in life. The Academic All-America program is an integral part of Verizon Reads, the company's national campaign to promote literacy through corporate philanthropy, partner collaboration, community outreach, and customer and employee participation.