Spring 2014 Academic All-SoCon Team Announced

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – More than 300 student-athletes earned spots on the Academic All-Southern Conference Team for the 2014 spring season, the league office announced Wednesday.

All 11 SoCon institutions were represented on the 312-member team, which honored student-athletes from the sports of baseball, softball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, and men’s and women’s tennis.

To be eligible, student-athletes must carry at least a 3.3 cumulative grade point average entering the spring season and were required to compete in at least 50 percent of their teams’ competitions during the recently concluded spring campaign. In addition, the student-athletes must have successfully completed at least 24 credit hours in the previous two semesters.

Each of the 11 league schools placed at least 12 student-athletes on the team, with Western Carolina leading the way with 41. Elon was right behind the Catamounts with 40 selections, and Samford was third with 35. Appalachian State (33), Chattanooga (33) and Wofford (31) also eclipsed 30 selections.

A spring-record 14 student-athletes own perfect 4.0 cumulative GPAs, including: Appalachian State’s Darrow Goff (men’s outdoor track and field) and Debra Domermuth (women’s outdoor track and field); Davidson’s Jamie Durling (men’s outdoor track and field); Georgia Southern’s Ashleigh Rasheed (women’s outdoor track and field), Shelby Morrill (softball), Brooke Red (softball), Paola Garrido (women’s tennis) and Mary Phillips Smith (women’s tennis); Chattanooga’s Emily McLennan (women’s golf), Patrick O’Brien (men’s outdoor track and field) and Helenka Kis (women’s outdoor track and field); and Wofford’s Justin Whitaker (men’s outdoor track and field), Katie Kessler (women’s outdoor track and field) and Alissa Williams (women’s outdoor track and field).

The 312 total selections were the most in the SoCon in the spring since the standard was raised from a 3.2 GPA prior to the 2011-12 season. The SoCon’s total of 802 student-athletes honored during the 2013-14 academic year, including the fall (331) and winter (159) academic all-conference teams, is the second-highest in league history, trailing only the 862 honored in 2010-11, the final year at the 3.2 minimum GPA. In addition, SoCon student athletes combined to post 44 perfect GPAs in 2013-14, also a league record. The league included 12 schools from 2008 to 2013.

The league’s 11 women’s outdoor track and field teams provided the most academic all-conference members with 95, up 14 from last season, followed by men’s outdoor track and field with 49 and baseball with 46.

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