Cross Country Claims Academic Honors
February 18, 2015 02:19 PM | General
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| Kelly Williams poses with her Elite 89 Award. |
| Photo by Tony Campbell |
West Virginia, who finished the year ranked No. 8 nationally, garnered the 2015 Division I Women’s All-Academic Team award. The Mountaineers finished the fall semester with a team 3.68 grade point average (GPA) – the highest of any team competing at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships.
“Commitment to the needs of our student-athletes have always been a focal point of our athletic department,” said coach Sean Cleary. “The mission statement that we adhere to revolves around helping to procedure a well-rounded athletic department that combines success both on and off the field. The support provided to our ladies is second to none. There is absolutely no reason why our kids should not be successful if they take advantage of all the help provided to them.”
Several individual members of the squad claimed academic accolades, as well. Brynn Harshbarger, Sydney Scott, Maggie Drazba, Katie Gillespie and Jillian Forsey all were recipients of USTFCCCA All-Academic honors. The five Mountaineer individual honorees were tied for the second most of any team.
Recipients must have compiled a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 and have finished in the top 25 finishers (or 10 percent) at regionals or as an All-American at the national meet to qualify for the award.
“We are in constant communication with our team to understand their needs during heavy classroom periods and adjust our training and racing schedules accordingly,” Cleary said. “We want our student-athletes to compete at the highest levels without jeopardizing the overall mission of achieving a degree that will be with them for the rest of their lives.”
The recent awards added to a long list of academic and athletic distinctions garnered by the Mountaineer cross country program in recent years.
Junior Kelly Williams earned the NCAA Division I Women’s Cross Country Elite 89 Award in November. The award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 89 championships. Williams joined Ahna Lewis in 2011, also of the WVU cross country program, as the only two student-athletes at West Virginia University to win the award.
Senior Katie Gillespie was named the 2014 Big 12 Women’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Gillespie, who is one of just three student-athletes at this year’s NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championship meet to garner three All-America distinctions over her career. She also became the second WVU cross country runner to claim the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete honor after Sarah Martinelli earned the recognition in 2013.
Throughout her career, Gillespie maintained a 3.94 grade point average in exercise physiology.
“My staff, which starts with the commitment of our administration and is passed down through (Associate Athletic Director/Student Services) Brady Rourke and (Educational Counselor) Sandy Cole-DeMent, is without equal in their passion to achieve academic success. Our coaching staff has created an environment by which they conduct workouts at all hours of the day to ensure that the girls can attend all classes and still be provided high-level coaching.”
The success has been apparent outside the classroom as well, as the Mountaineers have posted five top-10 NCAA Championship finishes since 2007, including an eighth-place finish this season.
Including Gillespie and Forsey’s All-America honors in 2014, West Virginia has now had 11 individual All-America distinctions since 2007 and has been ranked in the top 10 for 18 weeks since 2009.
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