BOSTON – Twenty-three of America East’s top indoor track & field student-athletes were named to the 2015-16 All-Academic team on Friday. The squad consists of student-athletes who excel both academically and athletically.
On the women's side, All-American Elinor Purrier from New Hampshire highlighted the squad. She earned All-America status in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Chistina Melian, who also also competed at NCAAs, was also an All-Academic selection.
Joining Purrier and Melian were Albany's Mary Adeyeye, Binghamton's Alana MacDonald, Maine's Jaclyn Masters and Shannon O'Neil, UMass Lowell's Kerstin Darsney and Jaclyn Solimine, New Hampshire's Laura Rose Donegan, Stony Brook's Kate Pouder and Vermont's Anna Kaplan.
On the men's side, All-American Drew Piazza from New Hampshire led the squad. He was joined by UMBC's Hassan Omar, who won both the Coaches' Award and Most Outstanding Track Performer honor at the America East indoor championship.
Piazza and Omar were joined by Binghamton's Joe Micelli, Hartford's Chris Helminski, Maine's Josh Horne, Steven Longfellow, Michael Lucas and Jesse Orach, Stony Brook's Joe Clark and Vermont's Dan Moroney and Ian Weider.
To be eligible for All-Academic, student-athletes must have sophomore athletic eligibility, attain a 3.30 minimum grade-point average and a contributor on their team. The squad is voted on by a committee made up of America East student-athlete support and athletic communications administrators as well as faculty athletic representatives.
America East is proud to have one of most comprehensive academic awards programs in the country. In addition All-Academic program, Elite 18 Awards are bestowed in each of the conference’s sponsored sports. Additionally, a Scholar-Athlete, someone who distinguishes himself/herself as the top student-athlete in his/her sport, is awarded. From that group, one male and one female is selected the America East Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The conference also recognizes all student-athletes who achieve at least a 3.0 GPA on its Academic Honor Roll, with those achieving a 3.50 average or better receiving Commissioner’s Honor Roll status. The Presidential Scholar-Athlete award recognizes graduating student-athletes who compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or higher as an undergraduate student. Finally, the Academic Cup is presented to the institution whose student-athletes post the highest grade-point average during that academic year.