BOSTON — For the first time in league history, America East Conference has named All-Academic teams for each of its fall sports. Cross country, field hockey, soccer and volleyball student-athletes have been honored for their achievements athletically and academically. The awards were announced Wednesday, November 16.
Complete All-Academic Team Breakdown (PDF)
The 2005 America East Men’s Cross Country Individual Champion, Kirby Davis of the University of Maine, highlights the Men’s Cross Country All-Academic Team, while women’s championship Leonora Joy of Stony Brook University and runner-up Marisa Ryan of Boston University top the women’s cross country squad.
Maine’s Meagan Connolly, the 2005 Defensive Player of the Year, headlines the field hockey team. The University at Albany boasts three student-athletes on the volleyball all-academic squad, including Ashlee Reed, one of the conference’s premier middle hitters.
Three-time America East Defender of the Year Graham Munro of Binghamton University leads three Bearcats on the men’s soccer all-academic team. The women’s soccer all-academic squad features two Maine Black Bears, Linda Consolante (Defender of the Year) and Marie-Andree Canuel (Midfielder of the Year).
The University of Maine led all member institutions with 13 student-athletes on the fall all-academic teams combined. Boston University (nine), UMBC (seven), Binghamton (six) and the University of Vermont (five) followed closely behind, while Albany (four), Stony Brook (four), University of Hartford (three) and University of New Hampshire (two) all boasted all-academic members as well.
The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Director meetings. Faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference’s nine member institutions decided to honor some of the league’s top athletes that are also quality students.
Each All-Academic Team has been selected based on the student-athlete’s academic and athletic accomplishments. Academic achievement for consideration requires student-athletes to have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.00 entering the season. Athletic accomplishment standards vary between team sports and individual sports. For team sports, student-athletes are required to be a nomination on the post-season awards ballot, which is determined by the league’s head coaches. For individual sports, student-athletes are required to be a medalist at the conference championship meet. Team size for team sports is based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time (e.g., 11 on the field for soccer). In the event that the number of student-athletes meeting the requirements is greater than the number that participate in a contest at one time, all-conference vote totals were used as the tie-breaking criteria. Team size for individual sports is determined by the number of all-conference honorees who possess the minimum academic requirement.