Anderson and Lankerd earn Academic All-District VI Football honors

OLIVET, Mich. – Olivet College senior punter Ryan Anderson and senior tight end Travis Lankerd have been named to the 2016 College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District VI Football team. They are now eligible to earn CoSIDA NCAA Division III Academic All-America® honors, where first-, second- and third-team selections will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 29.

Anderson is averaging 47.5 yards on 34 punts this season. Ten of the punts have landed inside the opponent's 20-yard line, 16 went for more than 50 yards and his longest punt traveled 65 yards. A 2015 American Football Coaches Association All-American and first-team All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association pick, Anderson's average ranks first among all NCAA Division III punters and is tied for fourth among all NCAA (FCS, FBS, DII and DIII) punters. He has also caught eight passes for 83 yards.

A business administration major (management concentration) and sports/recreation management minor, Anderson carries a perfect 4.0 grade point average (GPA). Off the football field, he is a fellow for the President's Leadership Institute (PLI). In May 2016, Anderson began an internship at Northwestern Mutual as a financial representative.

Lankerd has caught 18 passes for 183 yards from his tight end position. He also hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass in Olivet's 27-13 win over Elmhurst (Ill.) College.

An insurance and risk management major, Lankerd has a 3.95 GPA. He is also a PLI fellow, serves as the chief membership officer for Gamma Iota Sigma and holds membership in the Global Citizen's Honors Program. Lankerd has completed internships at Worldwide Facilities Wholesale Brokerage and Navigators Specialty Group and Swett & Crawford in Chicago.

The Academic All-District teams include student-athletes divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. Olivet is in District VI, which includes schools in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. This is the fifth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.