Three Mountain Hawks named to NWCA All-Academic Team

5/20/2011 5:02:00 PM | Men's Wrestling

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Three members of the Lehigh wrestling program, including both of the Mountain Hawks NCAA finalists, have been named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division I All-Academic Wrestling Team, the NWCA announced Thursday. National Champion Zack Rey and sophomores Robert Hamlin and Joey Napoli were three of the 93 athletes named to the squad.
 
The individual All-Academic team has qualifying standards based on grade point average and season record/accomplishments.
 
Rey captured Lehigh's 27th individual national championship in March, capping off a 34-1 season with the heavyweight title and his second All-America honor in as many years. As a junior, Rey captured the Midlands title at 285 and reached the EIWA finals for the third straight year. He was named EIWA Co-Wrestler of the Year for his national championship. In addition to his numerous on-mat accomplishments, Rey has done well in the classroom, where he carries a 2.99 GPA majoring in Earth and Environmental Science.
 
Hamlin, who teamed with Rey to give Lehigh two finalists in one year for the first time since 2003, holds a 3.41 GPA as a Materials Science and Engineering major. The Vermont native enjoyed a breakout sophomore season up at 184 as he amassed a 32-3 record which included an individual EIWA Championship and a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships for his first All-America medal.
 
Napoli continued to improve on the mats as the year progressed as he qualified for his first NCAA Championships with a fifth place finish at the EIWA tournament. In his first match at the NCAA Championships, Napoli upset the No. 11 seed at 149, Northwestern's Andrew Nadhir, with a fall from the neutral position at the 6:00 mark. Napoli finished the year at 18-13. In the classroom, Napoli owns a 3.39 GPA majoring in Mechanical Engineering.
 
Lehigh's trio of All-Academic honorees is the first for the program since 2008 when Dave Nakasone and Manuel Schubert were named to the team.
 
This year's Individual All-Academic Team featured 93 total athletes, three NCAA Champions, five NCAA Runner-Ups, 28 All-Americans and 84 NCAA Qualifiers. Lehigh was one of 15 schools to have three or more wrestlers named to the squad. Harvard was named the NWCA's top academic team for the second straight year with a team GPA of 3.51.
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