BOSTON — America East Conference announces the All-Academic teams for each of its 10 spring sports. Men’s and women’s outdoor track & field, lacrosse, tennis and golf, baseball and softball student-athletes have been honored for their achievements athletically and academically. The awards were announced on Wednesday (June 7).
Complete All-Academic Team Breakdown (PDF)
University at Albany topped all member institutions by having 16 student-athletes on the spring all-academic teams, followed closely by Binghamton University’s 15. University of Maine, UMBC and Stony Brook University all boast 10 all-academic members, while University of New Hampshire (nine), Boston University (eight), University of Vermont (six) and Hartford (four) follow closely behind.
First-team all-conference defender Sean Meluney of Binghamton highlights the Men’s Lacrosse All-Academic Team, while a trio of first-teamers from the Albany women’s lacrosse squad are featured on the Women’s Lacrosse All-Academic Team as well.
Binghamton’s Rory Quiller, an America East All-Conference member and the first Bearcats in school history to compete in the Division I NCAA Track & Field Championships (pole vault), headlines the Men’s Outdoor Track & Field All-Academic Team. Vermont’s Carmen Lagala also earned America East All-Conference accolades and qualified for NCAA Regionals in the 800-meter run. Lagala was joined on the Women’s Outdoor Track & Field All-Academic team by 18 fellow student-athletes, marking the largest all-academic team of the spring season.
America East Player of the Year Richemn Mourad of Binghamton and Boston University all-conference selection Monica Shepherd are included on the men’s and women’s tennis all-academic squads, respectively. Likewise, Binghamton’s Jeff Wolniewicz and Hartford’s Kerry Hassell, respectively, are on the men’s and women’s golf all-academic teams.
Vermont’s Joe Serafin, a first-team all-conference pitcher, highlights the Baseball All-Academic Team, while Amber Maisonet and Ali Meacham of the America East Champion Great Danes are on the Softball All-Academic Team.
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 track & field and swimming & diving, student-athletes are required to be a top-three finisher at the conference championship meet. For golf and tennis, student-athletes must be all-conference selections. Team size for team sports is based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time (e.g., five on the court for basketball). 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. Freshmen are not eligible for the all-academic teams and grade-point averages are taken from the semester prior to the competing athletic season.