April 18, 2000

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - University of North Carolina men's soccer player Michael Bucy has merited one of the top academic awards in the nation as Tuesday he was named to the prestigious first team of the 2000 GTE Academic All-America University Division Men's Fall and Winter At-Large Team. The GTE teams, which have existed since the 1950s, are the oldest and most reputable of the collegiate Academic All-America teams. They have been sponsored by GTE since the 1980s and they are selected by a select panel of the College Sports Information Directors of America.

This is the second successive year that Bucy has been honored on this GTE team. A year ago, the Raleigh, N.C. native was named to the third-team Academic All-America squad by GTE. The At-Large Team honors the top scholar-athletes from across the nation who participate in fall and winter sports for men with the exception of football and men's basketball, which honor their own squads.

Bucy, who started on defense on the 1999 UNC team which earned its first NCAA Tournament appearance in five years, carries a perfect 4.0 grade point average in business administration at UNC. He has been a three-year starter for Coach Elmar Bolowich's team and he has also been honored on several occasions for his community service projects as a UNC athlete.