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Four MIT student-athletes receive Capital One Academic All-America at-large honors

Clockwise from top left: Molly McShane, Wyatt Ubellacker, Matt Hohenberger, and Anastasia Vishnevetsky
Caption:
Clockwise from top left: Molly McShane, Wyatt Ubellacker, Matt Hohenberger, and Anastasia Vishnevetsky

Juniors Molly McShane, Wyatt Ubellacker and Matt Hohenberger, along with senior Anastasia Vishnevetsky, were named to the Capital One Academic All-America at-large team, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America on Tuesday. McShane was voted to the first team, Ubellacker and Hohenberger earned spots on the second team, and Vishnevetsky rounded out the honorees with a selection to the third team. MIT’s four awards represent the second-highest tally among Division III programs this year and tie for the second-most in Institute history. The Engineers are the all-time Division III leader in producing Academic All-Americans and rank third across all NCAA divisions, with 184 honors.

Sports eligible for the at-large program are: women’s bowling, women’s crew, men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s rifle, men’s and women’s skiing, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s volleyball, men’s and women’s water polo and wrestling.

A third-team selection last year, McShane is the first repeat honoree in the history of MIT’s field hockey program. In collecting her team’s eighth award, she joins Julie Chen ’86 and Martha Beverage ’87 as the only players to be named to the Academic All-America first team. McShane is also the first player in history of the field hockey team to receive All-America honors three years in a row. A three-time NEWMAC first team all-conference selection, she scored the tying goal in this year's NEWMAC Championship, with 81 seconds left, forcing the game into overtime and leading to MIT’s second title in three years. A mechanical engineering major, McShane is a residential tutor for the Women's Technology Program, was inducted into the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, and has created prototypes for outdoor activity toys.

Ubellacker moved up from the third team last year to the second team, equaling Andrew Renshaw ’85 for most accolades in the annals of the men’s swimming and diving program while picking up the Engineers’ sixth plaudit in men’s swimming and diving. Ubellacker racked up seven All-America honors at the 2012 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship, replicating his award total from the 2011 national meet. He qualified for the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials in the 50 freestyle and set Institute records in the 50 free and in the 50 and 100 butterfly. Majoring in mechanical engineering, Ubellacker is a two-time NEWMAC academic all-conference selection and was named CSCAA Scholar All-America.

Hohenberger joins Praveen Pamidimukkala ’08 as the only men’s volleyball players in program history to earn Academic All-America honors. In addition, he was the sole representative from the sport among this year’s 30 national recipients. An outside hitter for the Engineers, Hohenberger received AVCA first-team All-America accolades after leading the team in kills (365), kills per set (3.26) and hitting percentage (.323), while ranking second in aces (46) and aces per set (0.41). This past season, he broke the Institute’s record for career aces as his total of 185 surpassed the previous mark of 160. In addition, Hohenberger became the fifth player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-kill mark. Majoring in mechanical engineering, he spent six weeks in Tanzania last summer improving a wheelchair's design to encourage increased mobility. While abroad, Hohenberger also enhanced the design he created at MIT and built a second prototype.

Vishnevetsky is the fifth player in the history of the women’s tennis program to collect this award and first since Joanna MacKay ’07. She compiled a 12-5 singles record, including a 6-1 mark at the No. 3 position, to go along with a 12-7 total in doubles competition for the Engineers. Vishnevetsky had an unblemished ledger in NEWMAC play and closed her career with six all-conference plaudits. Majoring in brain and cognitive sciences, she has conducted research in localizing language regions in the brain, the effects of multiple sclerosis on vision and the molecular basis of Parkinson’s disease. In addition, Vishnevetsky received the Hans-Lukas Teuber Award for Excellence in Academics in Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

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