Women’s skier Henriette Nilssen and men’s skier Luke Fricker were named Wednesday to Academic All-America teams by the College Sports Communicators organization. They won in the At-Large division that fell outside some major sports such as football, basketball, track and field, and volleyball.

The CSC has sponsored this award since 1952 and honored more than 44,000 student-athletes who excelled in both their sport and in the classroom.

Nilssen was named to the CSC Academic All-America First Team, while Fricker earned Second Team honors. Nilssen, a junior from Nittedal, Norway, won her spot in part with a perfect 4.00 grade-point average as a business analytics MBA major, while Fricker, a senior from Canmore, Alberta, has a 3.94 GPA majoring in sports science.

Nilssen was also named the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the recent 2026 Wildcat Awards presented by NMU.

Northern Michigan University's Henriette Nilssen makes her way through a course during a past Wildcats' nordic ski meet. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Both student-athletes also represented Northern at the NCAA Championships, Nilssen being named the

Female Skier of the Year. Nilssen and Fricker each also earned spots on First Team All-Region and All-CCSA team placements due to their top-notch performances in conference and regional championship meets.

The entire release from the CSC is available online at academicallamerica.com/sports/aaa.

The CSC’s all-time Academic All-America list include major sports stars and also some of the world’s most accomplished individuals in fields that include medicine, business, science and the arts.

These honors are awarded across all NCAA levels and also in the NAIA, two-year colleges and Canadian institutions.

Story contents based on a Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the honors. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

Northern Michigan University's Luke Fricker makes his way through a course during a past Wildcats' nordic ski meet. (Photo courtesy NMU)