Two Mountaineers Earn Academic All-District
May 26, 2016 04:31 PM | Track & Field
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Two members of the West Virginia University track and field team were named to the 2016 Track and Field/Cross Country Academic All-District Team as selected by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Thursday.
Graduate student Kelly Williams and junior Amy Cashin were named to the women’s first team for District 2.
“To reach the highest levels of academic and athletic excellence should be the foundation of university athletics,” said coach Sean Cleary. “These two young ladies epitomize the words student-athlete. Kelly’s Elite 89 Award and All-America honor in the mile put her in a very special group in the history of WVU Athletics. Amy has been tremendous all year academically with a 4.0 GPA and equally impressive on the track. Their tenacity in the classroom and on the field have and will prepare them for very successful lives. We are all very proud of all that they have and will continue to achieve.”
Williams maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the 2016 season. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Strategic Communications and recently received a Master’s of Science in journalism while balancing the commitment of being a Division I student-athlete.
Last year, she was named to the Capital One Academic All-America First Team and received an Academic All-District honor for her 4.0 GPA, the second award for Williams. She received the NCAA Elite 89 award at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships, which is given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA participating at the finals. The Chesterland, Ohio, native is an All-American in the mile, a two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic honoree and a two-time All Mid-Atlantic Region honoree two from the 2013 and 2012 cross country season. Williams has been named to the Academic All-Big 12 Cross Country First Team four times and has been named three times to the Academic All-Big 12 Track and Field First Team. In 2013, she was honored to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Dean’s List and the Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll.
Today’s honor marks the first for Cashin, the Werribee, Australia, native. Cashin maintained a 3.87 grade point average while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sports and exercise psychology. She was named to the Academic All-Big 12 Cross Country First Team twice, while maintaining a 4.0 GPA, and she was named to the 2013 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team. Cashin also was named to the 2015-14 USTFCCCA All-Academic team. She qualified to compete at the 2016 NCAA East Prelims on May 26-28, the second-consecutive time for Cashin.
She is also a member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll and the President’s List.
First Team Academic All-District honorees advance to the Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.
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