Klooster Named GTE Academic All-American

April 20th, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Jeff Febus


GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Calvin College sophomore Joel Klooster has been named a third team GTE Academic All-American in the fall/winter college at-large division.

The college division of the GTE Academic All-America program includes NCAA II, NCAA III and NAIA schools. The GTE Academic All-District and All-America teams are selected by the College Sports information Director's Association of America (CoSIDA). To be eligible for nomination, a player must be a starter or a key reserve with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.20.

A member of the Calvin men's cross country team, Klooster earned a spot on the All-MIAA first team and was named the MIAA's MVP after taking first place at the MIAA Championships this fall, helping Calvin capture its 13th consecutive MIAA title. A native of Chatham, Ontario and a graduate of Chatham Christian High School, Klooster then took 14th at the Great Lakes Regional to earn a spot on the Great Lakes All-Region team as Calvin captured its fifth consecutive Great Lakes Regional title and its seventh in the last eight years. At the NCAA III Championships, Klooster finished 51st to help Calvin to a fourth place team finish.

As a freshman, Klooster was a second team All-MIAA honoree and a member of a Calvin team that finished second at the NCAA III Championships, marking the best national finish in school-history.

A three-time member of the Calvin Dean's List, Klooster carries a 3.97 grade point average while majoring in electrical engineering and minoring in mathematics. He earned a spot on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll last year. This past summer, he worked as an intern in the Calvin Engineering Department, designing campus computer labs. Klooster is off to a strong start to the men's track and field season this spring as he recently posted an NCAA III provisional qualifying time of 14:50.00 in the 5,000 meters at the Aquinas College Invitational.

Klooster is the second athlete from Calvin this year to receive GTE Academic All-America recognition, joining Aaron Winkle who was named a second team GTE Academic All-American this winter in men's basketball. Klooster is one of two athletes from the MIAA to have earned GTE Academic All-America honors in the men's fall-winter college at-large division as Kalamazoo senior Markus Boos was named to the second team in swimming.

Calvin has now had its athletes recognized as GTE Academic All-Americans 35 times including nine times in the last two years.

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