Five Named Capital One Academic All-District Selections - AmericaEast.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Five senior America East student-athletes were named Capital One Academic All-District At-Large selections, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced on Thursday. University at Albany's Nikki Branchini and University of Maine's Maire Dineen were first-team All-District I selections on the women's side, while Binghamton University's Sven Vlodegraven was a first-team choice in District I on the men's side along with UMBC's Keilan Freeman, a District II choice. University of Hartford's Ryan Compitello was a second-team District I choice.
As first-team selections, Branchini, Dineen, Freeman and Vloedgraven will be named to the national ballot. The Capital One Academic All-America Men's At-Large teams will be announced on June 7 and the women's team will be released June 9.
Branchini, a senior women's lacrosse standout, has a 3.83 GPA in history. Named the America East Co-Player of the Year one year after earning sole Player of the Year honors, Branchini has led the Great Danes to a perfect 18-0 record and a trip to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championship.
Dineen, a senior member of Maine's field hockey team, has a 3.87 GPA in economics and international affairs. The Black Bears' nominee for America East's Woman of the Year award, Dineen was named to the league's All-Academic team three times and is a repeat CoSIDA honoree. On the field, Dineen earned all-conference recognition for the third straight year, receiving second-team accolades.
Freeman, a senior swimmer at UMBC, has a 3.98 GPA in mechanical engineering. A two-time America East All-Academic honoree, Freeman earned earned Academic All-America status last season. In the pool, he led UMBC to four straight league titles and was part of the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay that broke the UMBC, America East Championship and Germantown Indoor Swim Center records at the 2011 conference championship.
Vlodegraven, a senior tennis standout at Binghamton, has a 3.83 GPA in biology. The reigning America East Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Vloedgraven is a three-time All-America East selection and a repeat CoSIDA choice. The No. 77 singles player in the nation in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, Vloedgraven earned his third straight America East Player of the Year award and will participate in the NCAA Singles Championship for the second straight year this week.
Compitello, a junior men's lacrosse attacker for Hartford, has a 3.88 GPA in management. He was named to America East All-Academic team for the third straight season and is a two-time Commissioner's Honor Roll awardee. Compitello finished tied for the league lead with 26 assists and tied for third with 48 points.
To be nominated, the student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for his/her career. No athlete is eligible until he/she has reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution (thus, true freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible transfers are not eligible). In the cases of transfers, graduate students and junior college graduates, the athlete must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to be eligible.
CoSIDA selects Academic All-America teams in 12 programs: football, women's volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's track & field/cross country, women's track & field/cross country, men's at-large and women's at-large. A first team, second team and third team are selected in both the University (Division I and I-AA) and College (Division II, III and NAIA) Divisions. Football consists of just first and second teams.
The sports in the at-large category include: women's bowling, women's crew, men's and women's fencing, women's field hockey, men's and women's golf, men's and women's gymnastics, men's and women's ice hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's rifle, men's and women's skiing, men's and women's swimming & diving, men's and women's tennis, men's volleyball, men's and women's water polo and men's wrestling.