BURNSVILLE, Minn. – Augustana University student-athletes Charissa Etrheim, Brian Long, Jennifer Pederson and Meg Thacker have earned the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award, NSIC commissioner Erin Lind announced Thursday. A total of 133 student-athletes from the NSIC's 16 institutions will receive the award in its seventh year.
 
The honor, named for the late NCAA President Dr. Myles Brand, is bestowed to senior NSIC student-athletes who have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.75 or higher, and are exhausting their eligibility and are on track to graduate. Each student-athlete will be recognized by the NSIC with a certificate of achievement and a wrist watch.
 
"The Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award is one of the highest honors a student-athlete in the NSIC can achieve," Lind said. "To earn this prestigious honor, one must show a commitment and dedication to both academics and athletics, characteristics in which Dr. Myles Brand emphasized. I am extremely proud of all these student-athletes for their devotion to their universities, the NSIC and to their personal academic and athletic goals. I have no doubt these student-athletes will continue to achieve success in life well beyond the classroom and the competition venues."
 
Etrheim, a member of the Augustana track and field team, carries a 3.97 GPA as a biology major at Augustana. She is a four-time Academic All-NISC honoree and competes as a sprinter for the Vikings. She earned All-America honors during the indoor season as a junior last season as a member of the seventh-place finishing 4x400-meter relay team at the national championship. Etrheim also helped the 4x400-meter relay team to a second-place finish at the indoor NSIC Championship. During the outdoor season, Etrheim helped the Vikings earn second-place in the 4x400-meter relay. She has helped Augustana to school records in the 4x400-meter relay both indoor and outdoor seasons.
 
Long recently completed his senior season with the Augustana football team, helping the Vikings to its first NCAA Playoff appearance since 2010 and just the third in program history. Long, a native of Pierre, S.D., earned All-NSIC South Division and CCA All-Super Region Three First Team honors following his senior season. He started every single game of his career playing all 45 games on the offensive line for the Vikings. In his last two seasons, Long helped Augustana set single season records in total offense in back-to-back years. In 2015, Augustana set a single season records for total offense (5,527 yards), passing yards (3,603), points scored (494) and touchdowns (64). Long is a physical education major and carries a 3.77 grade-point average.
 
Pederson, a senior from Inver Grove Heights, Minn., is a senior member of the women's golf team at Augustana and holds a 3.89 GPA as a nursing major. She will graduate as a three-time Academic All-NSIC honoree. Pederson has played in 84 rounds for the Vikings during her career and is a two-time All-NSIC Second team honoree. She was named the NSIC's Newcomer of the Year as a freshman in 2012-13 after tying for 12th at the conference championship. She placed 22nd at the NCAA Central Region Championship last season and has one top-10 finish so far this season. Pederson has helped Augustana to two NCAA Championship appearances during her career.
 
Thacker, a senior from Omaha, Neb., recently completed her senior season on the soccer team at Augustana helping the Vikings to their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Thacker owns a 3.99 GPA as a biology major at Augustana and has helped lead Augustana to two of its best seasons in program history. She started all 23 matches as a senior in 2015 and was a first team All-NSIC selection. She is a three-time Academic-All NSIC award winner and was a member of Augustana soccer's first NSIC Tournament championship team and helped the Vikings to their first NCAA Tournament win in program history.
 
Dr. Myles N. Brand, visionary leader, educator and reformer, served as the President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from 2003-2009.  He passed away in September 2009 at the age of 67 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.  Brand presided over passage of the most comprehensive academic reform package for intercollegiate athletics in recent history – a package that refocused the attention of student-athletes, coaches and administrators on the education of student-athletes.  Brand also changed the national dialog on college sports to emphasize the educational value of athletics participation and the integration of intercollegiate athletics with the academic mission of higher education.  His impact on Division II ran deep by implementing an identity campaign and a strategic-positioning platform tied to specific divisional attributes. He challenged Division II to continue its game-environment and community-engagement focus, and improve academic success rates.