WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Sam Spiegel, a men's tennis player at Whitman College, has been named to the Verizon Academic All-District VIII At-Large (College Division) Team.
Spiegel, a junior from Vancouver, British Columbia, is a politics major with a cumulative grade point average of 3.88.
Playing No. 2 singles this spring, Spiegel compiled an 11-1 record against Northwest Conference (NWC) opponents. He earned a spot on the All-NWC First-Team, helping the Missionaries finish the season with a 10-4 record in conference play.
In addition to his work on the tennis courts and in the classroom, Spiegel is a key competitor for Whitman's highly- ranked Speech & Debate Team. Spiegel won intercollegiate speech tournaments this past spring in three individual categories: communication analysis, duo interpretation, and programmed oral interpretation.
The Verizon Academic All-District VIII At-Large (College Division) Team includes ten male athletes selected from sports without their own specific Academic All-District teams. This includes such sports as tennis, swimming, golf and skiing. The College Division for District VIII incorporates all non-NCAA Div. I schools west of the Rocky Mountains.
Whitman, which competes athletically in NCAA Div. III, has academic standards among the highest in the nation. This past year's first-year class, which included 50 valedictorians, had a median high school grade point average of 3.88 and a median SAT score of 1330. According to the most recent rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Whitman has the highest ranking among colleges of its kind in the Northwest.