May 25, 2006

South Carolina men’s tennis student-athlete Tom Eklund (Hollviken, Sweden) and men’s golf student-athlete Eirik Johansen (Stavanger, Norway) have been selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III At-Large Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced Thursday. Eklund appears on the first team while Johansen made the second team. Student-athletes from the following men’s sports are eligible for nomination to the At-Larage team: golf, tennis, volleyball, swimming, gymnastics, fencing and lacrosse. District III includes the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Eklund’s inclusion on the first team advances him to the ballot for Academic All-America honors. The senior captain and No. 1 singles player wrapped up an impressive Gamecock career earlier this month. In addition to winning the SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Postgraduate Scholarship, he was chosen as USC’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned the athletic department’s Inspiration Award in 2005-06. The Inspiration Award is presented to a USC student-athlete who has overcome great adversity with perseverance, dedication and determination. Eklund played with a severe back injury that caused him constant pain. It is not damaging long term, however, he continued to fight through the pain. Eklund also played on four NCAA Tournament teams and led Carolina to the NCAA Round of 16 as a junior, a season when he also collected first-team all-SEC honors. His 64 career doubles wins also rank No. 12 in the school record book. Eklund is a finance and international business major at USC.

Johansen, a three-time first-team All-SEC selection (2003, 2004 and 2006) has competed in all 48 events the South Carolina golf team has competed in over the last four years. He is a two-time All-Southeast Region selection (2003, 2004), a GCAA Honorable Mention All-American (2003) and a Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar (2005). In 2005-06, Johansen boasts five top-10 finishes and seven top-20 finishes while leading the team with a 72.69 stroke average. For his career, the team captain owns 19 top-10 finishes and 27 to-20 showings in tournament play. Johansen will conclude his Carolina career in next week’s NCAA Golf Championship, May 31-June 3 in Sunriver, Ore. He is a sport and entertainment management major at USC.