November 26, 2008

Eichler, Salera earn CoSIDA Academic All-America

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Two Grove City College football players earned Academic All-America College Division honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and ESPN The Magazine Wednesday morning. Senior guard Dave Salera (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) and senior middle linebacker Adam Eichler (North Versailles, Pa./East Allegheny) each earned Second Team Academic All-America honors from the CoSIDA Academic All-America Committee.

Salera earned First Team All-Presidents' Athletic Conference after anchoring a youthful offensive line this fall. Salera started all 10 games this year for the Wolverines, making eight starts at guard and two at center. His performance up front helped Grove City average 335 yards of total offense and a conference-best 32 minutes and 52 seconds of possession time per game.

Salera is a two-year starter and a three-year letterman for Grove City (6-4 in 2008). In 2007, Salera earned First Team Academic All-District and Second Team All-PAC. Prior to the 2008 season, Salera's teammates voted him as one of the team's co-captains.

Salera has compiled a 3.83 grade-point average while majoring in accounting. He is a six-time Dean's List selection. Salera has been named to the PAC Academic Honor Roll and earned induction into the Operation Top Management and Delta Mu Delta business honoraries.

Eichler led the PAC with 104 total tackles this year and earned Second Team All-PAC. He added one sack, an interception and two forced fumbles this year, helping the Wolverines lead the conference in pass defense. This is the second straight season that Eichler led Grove City in total tackles. He recorded a team-high 92 stops in 2007.

Eichler started each of the last 20 games and is a four-year letterman. Like Salera, Eichler co-captained the 2008 team. Eichler's teammates voted him as the team's Defensive Player of the Year for this season.

He owns a 3.52 cumulative grade-point average while majoring in molecular biology/pre-dental. Eichler is a Dean's List student and has been named to the PAC Academic Honor Roll. Eichler has been inducted into the American Chemical Society and has achieved "Scholar-Athlete" distinction at the College.

This is the first time 20 years that Grove City has produced multiple CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in the same sport in the same season. In 1988, softball players Deb Poland and Tammy Leonard both earned Academic All-America recognition.

Eichler and Salera are the first Grove City football players to earn Academic All-America since punter Travis Croll earned First Team All-America in 1989. Twelve Grove City student-athletes have earned a total of 15 Academic All-America citations since 2002.

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