April 1, 2002

WOODLAND, Calif. - Six UNLV men's soccer scholar-athletes were named to the 2001 Academic All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Team announced by the conference office.

Senior defender Andrew Hooker (Victoria, British Columbia) topped the list for the Rebels with a 3.973 grade-point average in mechanical engineering. This past year, Hooker became only the seventh student-athlete in school history to be named to the Verizon / CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America team.

The senior class was well represented with forward Jason Melendez (Lakewood, Calif.), midfielder Tyler Turchi (Little Rock, Ark.) and defender Kevin Lunkwitz (Las Vegas) honored for their classroom accomplishments. Melendez is an economics major at UNLV with a 3.475 GPA, Turchi a finance major (3.746 GPA) and Lunkwitz a kinesiology major (3.450 GPA).

Juniors Ben Hooker (Victoria, British Columbia) and Tuomas Talvio (Helsinki, Finland) rounded out the academic selections for the Rebels. Hooker, a hotel administration major, holds a 3.505 GPA, while Talvio, a finance major, holds a 3.896 GPA.

Student-athletes were named to the team based on having a 3.0 or better cumulative grade-point average, for being at least a sophomore academically, having completed one full academic year at the member institution and having competed in 50 percent or more of the institution's competition in the sport.

2001 ACADEMIC ALL-MPSF TEAM
Andrew Hooker (Sr.), Defender, 3.973 GPA, Mechanical Engineering
Ben Hooker (Jr.), Defender, 3.505 GPA, Hotel Administration
Kevin Lunkwitz (Sr.), Defender, 3.450 GPA, Kinesiology
Jason Melendez (Sr.), Forward, 3.475 GPA, Economics
Tuomas Talvio (Jr.), Midfielder, 3.896 GPA, Finance
Tyler Turchi (Sr.), Midfielder, 3.746 GPA, Finance