June 11, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – University of Notre Dame seniors Chad DeBolt (Waterloo, N.Y.) and A.J. Wright (Timonium, Md.) have been named to the 2002 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Scholar All-America Team. Twenty-two student-athletes from Divisions I, II and III were named to the squad.
The USILA Scholar Athlete All-America team recognizes student-athletes who have excelled academically, and as citizens in their respective communities. Athletes named to this team are seniors who have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
Wright recently graduated cum laude from Notre Dame with a degree in accounting from the Mendoza College of Business and earned a 3.523 cumulative grade point average. He earned Dean’s List recognition during five of his eight semesters. A two-time first-team Great Western Lacrosse League honoree on defense in 2002, he became the 12th different men’s lacrosse player and fourth defenseman at Notre Dame to earn USILA/STX All-America honors as an honorable mention selection this past season.
Wright was the only member on the ’02 13-member GWLL all-conference team to repeat as a first-team honoree. Along with DeBolt, he was one of four players who served as an Irish captain during the season. A starter in all 13 games, Wright collected 31 ground balls, third best on the team. A three-year starter, he started the final 43 games of his collegiate career and played in the 45 contests overall while collecting 82 career ground balls.
DeBolt handled the majority of Notre Dame’s face-off duties during each of the last two season. He won 56.4 percent of his face offs (108-188) during the ’02 season after registering a 53.1 winning percentage (135-254) the previous season. He missed just one game during his 57-game career and scored 4 goals while collecting 168 career ground balls. This past season, he led the team with 51 ground balls.
DeBolt, a walk-on member of the Notre Dame football team, earned a 3.33 grade point average during the 2002 spring semester and has a 3.14 overall grade index. He is enrolled in the College of Engineering and is a participating in a dual program with the Mendoza College of Business which will earn him a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA in May of 2003.