May 3, 2006

Diverse Issues In Higher Education magazine has announced that three University of Dayton student-athletes have been named among the magazine's 2006 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholars. The three Flyers named to the Ashe Award list is the most in school history.

Senior Roberto Ramos was named to baseball's first team, sophomore Natalia Walters was on women's soccer's second team, and junior Matt Marshall was selected to football's third team.

Inspired by the tennis legend's commitment to education as well as his passion for athletics as a vehicle to change people's lives, Diverse Issues In Education established the award to honor the memory of Arthur Ashe, Jr. To be nominated, student-athletes must be undergraduate student-athletes of color who carry a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.2, be active in their campus communities and be successful in their sport.

Ramos is UD's starting centerfielder. For the season, he is hitting .237, but has overcome a slow non-conference start to bat .278 in 11 Atlantic 10 Conference games. He is second on the team with 13 stolen bases this season. The native of San Juan, Puerto Rico is majoring in Accounting.

Walters played in 18 games for the Flyers at midfield in 2005, starting four of them. She scored one goal and added two assists. As a freshman, she was named to the 2004 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team. Hailing from South Barrington, Illinois and St. Viator High School, Walters is majoring in Business Administration.

Marshall played in all ten games for the football Flyers this year as the backup fullback. He had 25 rushes, 139 yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry. UD was 9-1 in 2005, and ranked #2 among NCAA I-AA Mid-Majors. The Cincinnati Country Day High School product majors in Management Information Systems.

These awards are the latest in a string of academic success stories this year for UD. The Flyers were tied for 21st among Division I schools in the NCAA's inaugural Graduation Success Rate compilation which was announced in January. Dayton's GSR of 94 was also second among Atlantic 10 schools.