With 34 members each, Elon and Appalachian State lead the way this fall for student-athletes' performance in the classroom.
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The Southern Conference announced Dec. 15 its Academic All-Conference Team for the 2011 fall season, with Elon University and Appalachian State at the top of the list of conference schools for the number of student-athletes who excelled in the classroom.
A total of 297 student-athletes were named to the team. Among institutions, Elon and Appalachian State had the highest number of academic all-conference team members with 34. Closely behind was Wofford with 32 student-athletes earning recognition along with 26 from UNCG and 25 from Chattanooga.
Student-athletes participated in football, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s cross country. Collectively, they recorded a 3.63 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
Seventeen student-athletes have maintained perfect 4.0 cumulative GPAs, including Elon’s Katelyn O’Dunne, The Citadel’s Shanna Couch and John Synovec, Georgia Southern’s Monica Belissimo and Adrian Mora, UNCG’s Peyton Ford, Preston Ford, and Ashley Schnell, Chattanooga’s Chris Berry, Morgan Buchanan, Tara Gietema, Taylor Mangrum, Christina Teter and Sarah White-Woerner, Western Carolina’s Morgan Turner, and Wofford’s Katie Kessler and Rachel Woodlee.
Number of Student-Athletes from Elon University Fall Sports Teams to Make the Southern Conference Academic All-Conference Team for Fall 2011
Men’s Soccer: 8
Volleyball: 7
Women’s Cross Country: 7
Women’s Soccer: 5
Football: 4
Men’s Cross Country: 3
To be eligible, student-athletes must carry at least a 3.3 cumulative grade point average entering the fall season and were required to compete in at least one-half of their team’s competitions during the recently concluded fall campaign. In addition, the student-athletes must have successfully completed at least 24 credit hours in the previous two semesters.
The women’s soccer programs supplied the greatest number of honorees with 75, followed by women’s cross country with 54 and football with 52.