CAMBRIDGE, Mass.- Ten men and eleven women have been named to the America East Indoor Track & Field All-Academic teams as announced by the conference office on Wednesday, March 11. All nine member institutions and 16 different academic majors are represented by the 21 athletes.
Three of the 10 male athletes, University at Albany’s Mike Dempsey (Rochester, N.Y.) and Binghamton University’s Chris Gaube (Vestal, N.Y.) and Dan Walker (Cortland, N.Y.), were all-conference selections this season. Joining them on the All-Academic team are Albany’s Valete Graham (Bronx, N.Y.), Kevin O’Riley (Rochester, N.Y.) and Andrew Overbaugh (Catskill, N.Y.), University of Maine’s Christopher Harmon (Scarborough, Maine), UMBC’s Cliff Bridges (Raleigh, N.C.), Stony Brook University’s Alex Felce (Stroud, England) and University of Vermont’s Jared Alvord (Plainfield, Mass.).
Of the 11 female student athletes recognized, due to a tie for the tenth slot, seven were all-conference selections: University at Albany’s Zuliana Fontanez (Dorado, Puerto Rico) and Melissa Lee (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Boston University’s Edwina Clark (Sydney, Australia) and Sarah Mosser (East Aurora, N.Y.), University of New Hampshire’s Rita Ciambra (Hanover, N.H.) and Stony Brook University’s Lucy Van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand) and Laura Huet (Carrickmines, Ireland). Joining the seven are Laura Cummings (Bay Shore, N.Y.) from University at Albany, Hartford’s Ariana Bass (Penacook, N.H.) and Elizabeth Foster (Ellington, Conn.) and Vermont’s Hannah Sylvester (North Hero, Vt.).
The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Director meetings, where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference’s nine member institutions decided to honor the league’s top student-athletes, whom excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field.
For the last two academic years, the All-Academic Team has been selected based on a formula. Starting this year, America East has adopted a more subjective approach based on feedback from various coaches’ groups and administrators and approval by the athletic directors. The process will now resemble the CoSIDA’s Academic All-America program. Student-athletes worthy of consideration will now be nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by committee of SIDs, academic advisors and faculty representatives from all nine member institutions.
All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time or are made up of 10 student-athletes for individual sports. To be nominated for the distinction, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team’s games or competitions. In the classroom, student-athletes must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshman are not eligible for consideration.