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BLOOMSBURG—Two members of the Bloomsburg University national finalist football team, Mike Lelko (Phillipsburg, NJ/Phillipsburg) and Jeff Smith (Pitman, NJ/Pitman) , have been named third team Associated Press (AP) Little All-Americans.
The AP Little All-America team is chosen from players in NCAA Divisions II and III and the NAIA.
Lelko, a 5-10, 186 pound wide receiver, led the Huskies in pass receptions with 94 and in yards receiving with 1,375 in 15 games. Lelko also caught a team-high 21 touchdown passes, while averaging 91.7 yards a game in receiving. The senior co-captain, though, saved some of his best performances for the NCAA playoffs.
He finished the four-game NCAA championship tournament with records for catches, 33, and touchdown receptions, nine. Against Northwood in the Northeast Regional title game, Lelko caught 10 passes for a career-best 160 yards and three scores. In the NCAA championship game against Delta State, Lelko caught 10 passes for 87 yards and two scores.
Lelko ended his career as the Huskies all-time leader (regular season games only) in pass receptions with 229, receiving yards with 3,151 and touchdown receptions with 34. He moved into 12th place on the all-time NCAA Division II receptions list with his 229 receptions.
Smith, a 6-2, 292 offensive tackle, is being honored for the second time in a week with All-America status. Last week, Smith was named a first team Daktronics Division II All-America in voting by the Sports Information Directors.
Smith was part of a Bloomsburg offensive line that produced an average of 36.3 points per game, over 457 yards of total offense per game, including just over 227 a game on the ground. Smith's blocking also helped the Huskies rush for 35 touchdowns in 2000 while limiting quarterback Eric Miller to 26 sacks for the season (1.73 per game). In addition, Smith was recently named the Division II winner of the Brooks-Irvine Player of the Year Award for South Jersey. The award is given annually to the top player from Division I, II and III who is a resident of south Jersey.
Bloomsburg lost in the NCAA title game, 63-34, to finish with a 12-3 record. The Huskies won 12 straight games after starting the season with an 0-2 record.
Lelko and Smith are the first Bloomsburg players to be named to the AP Little All-America team since Irv Sigler and Tim Baer were first team selections in 1997.