BOSTON ? A total of 594 student-athletes have been named to the 2006 America East Fall Academic Honor Roll for earning grade point averages of 3.0 or higher, including America East Scholar-Athletes Kirby Davis (Falmouth, Maine) (Maine men’s cross country), Marisa Ryan (Farmington, Conn.) (Boston University women’s cross country), Arlette Westdorp (Assen, Netherlands) (Albany field hockey), Stephan Hall (Denver, Colo.) (Albany men’s soccer), Liz Cook (Halifax, Nova Scotia) (Hartford women’s soccer) and Megan Hoag (Brunswick, Ohio) (Binghamton volleyball). Of that total, 305 student-athletes were named to the Commissioner’s Honor Roll, acknowledging grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher during the most recent athletic season. The honors were announced Tuesday (February 20).
Davis, Ryan and Hall are all repeat winners, while Cook, Westdorp and Hoag earn the honor for the first time. The student-athletes and Scholar-Athletes were members of teams in the six championship sports which America East offered in the fall season including men’s cross country, women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s soccer, women’s soccer and volleyball. Member institutions of America East Conference for the 2006 fall season included University at Albany, Binghamton University, Boston University, University of Hartford, University of Maine, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook University and University of Vermont.
A committee of athletic administrators and NCAA Faculty Athletics Representatives chose an honoree in each of the six fall championship sports. Each honoree, named America East Scholar-Athlete, was a starter or prominent reserve and carries a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.20.
New Hampshire had the most representatives named to the Academic Honor Roll as 95 Wildcat student-athletes were selected. Maine (83), Vermont (80), Albany (61) and Stony Brook (61) rounded out the top five. UMBC had 58 honorees, Boston U. was just one behind with 57 recipients, while Binghamton had 51 and Hartford 48.
New Hampshire featured 47 student-athletes named to the Commissioner’s Honor Roll to lead all institutions. Maine (45), Vermont (34), UMBC (33) and Binghamton (30) were others well-represented by student-athletes with grade-point averages at 3.5 or better.
The New Hampshire women’s cross country team had 32 scholar-athletes, the highest total of all institutional sports. Maine had the highest percentage of student-athletes named to the Academic Honor Roll as 83 of its 110 student-athletes (75.45 percent) in fall sports received that distinction. Vermont (72.73), Albany (62.3), Stony Brook (62.3), Binghamton (61.5), New Hampshire (60.1), Hartford (57.1), UMBC (53.7) and Boston U. (52.3) were other schools with more than half their student-athletes named to the Academic Honor Roll.
Davis, a senior at Maine, is a civil engineering major. Earlier this year, he became just the third student-athlete in league history to garner top honors in back-to-back seasons winning the America East Cross Country individual title. In addition, he is a two-time America East Cross Country All-Academic Team selection and has been on the America East honor roll in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 for track and cross country. Davis is a two-time Maine Scholar-Athlete and a member of the Senior Skulls (Maine Academic Honor).
Ryan, a senior at Boston U., is a medical science major with an art history minor. She was named to the COSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Team in the spring of 2006. Ryan finished runner-up in this fall’s America East Cross Country Championship for the second-straight year and went on to place ninth in the NCAA Regional, qualifying her for the national championship where she finished 123rd. After winning last year’s cross country scholar-athlete award, Ryan went on to become America East Women’s Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Westdorp, a sophomore economics major, was named the 2006 America East Defensive Player of the Year. She was selected to the America East All-Academic field hockey squad and is a member of the UAlbany Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. She led the nation with 1.12 assists per game and helped anchor a defense which was ranked 10th in the country. Westdorp, who became UAlbany’s all-time assists leader with 33 in two seasons, was also named to the NFHCA Division I All-Northeast Regional Second Team.
Albany’s Hall boasted a 3.98 GPA as he is pursuing a master’s degree in information technologies. He was selected to COSIDA/ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-America squad in 2005 and 2006. He’s a three-time COSIDA’s All-District I Academic Team selection and a recipient of the ECAC Merit Medal. Hall started all 74 matches in his Great Danes career and was team captain as a junior and senior. In 2005, he was fifth in the conference in scoring (17 points) and helped led Albany to the semifinals of the America East Men’s Soccer Championship for the first time in program history.
Cook, a junior marketing major at Hartford, was named a COSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Second Team selection. In addition, she was selected to America East All-Academic team and is a two-time America East Academic Commissioner’s Honor Roll recipient. She was named America East Goalkeeper of the Year and a member of the all-conference first team. She was also named to the 2006 America East All-Championship team, leading the Hawks to the title, and an NSCAA/adidas All-Northeast Region First Team and an All-New England First Team selection.
Hoag, a senior psychology major at Binghamton, carries a 3.9 grade-point-average and is a member of the prestigious Golden Key and Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Societies. In 2005, her leadership was critical as Binghamton captured its first-ever America East Championship and subsequent berth to the NCAA Tournament. Hoag has been named to the Dean’s List every semester at Binghamton and America East Commissioner’s Honor Roll every semester for eight-consecutive semesters.
Albany Fall Academic Honor Roll
Binghamton Fall Academic Honor Roll
Boston U. Fall Academic Honor Roll
Hartford Fall Academic Honor Roll
Maine Fall Academic Honor Roll
UMBC Fall Academic Honor Roll
New Hampshire Fall Academic Honor Roll
Stony Brook Fall Academic Honor Roll
Vermont Fall Academic Honor Roll