Girod, Pinto Earn ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA District Academic Honors
A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Pinto has a cumulative 3.99 GPA as a banking andfinance major. Pinto is a two-time ITA Scholar-Athlete selection and has beennamed to the Academic All-SEC team twice. He was MSU's male nominee for theBoyd H. McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Award (top scholar-athlete in the SEC) thispast season. He was this years Hallbrook Award winner as MSU's top malestudent athlete this past year. Pinto was also named to the 2006 SEC Good WorksTeam.
As a three-year letterwinner at State, Pinto has been a key to the Bulldog'ssuccess. This past season, Pinto played at the top of State's doubles andsingles lineup. He clinched two wins for MSU this season including the upset of#20 LSU in the SEC Tournament. Pinto's most success came in doubles during hiscareer. In 2004-05, he reached a top-10 national ranking in doubles as well asa top-100 ranking in singles.
Girod, a senior from Belfort, France, holds a 3.85 cumulative GPA as aninternational business major. He is a two time ITA Scholar-Athlete selectionand has twice been named to the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll.
On the court this past season, Girod closed out his career this past season as amainstay in the Bulldog's lineup. Girod and Pinto were ranked as high as 37thin doubles last fall. Girod was third on the team this season with 13 overallsingles victories. He reached the Division B finals at the Hibernia TennisClassic and the Round-of-16 of the SEC Indoor Championships earlier thisspring.
I am very proud of our guys for earning this award again this season, said MSUhead coach Sylvain Guichard. It shows their ability to achieve great resultson the court as well as in the classroom.
As district honorees, Girod and Pinto will be nominated for ESPN The Magazine's2006 Academic all-America At-Large Team, which will be released later thissummer.