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Virginia's Men's and Women's Cross Country Squads Selected as USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams
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NEW ORLEANS – The Virginia men’s and women’s cross country squads have been honored as 2010 NCAA Division I USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams, as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Senior Stephanie Garcia and junior Morgane Gay were also honored as USTFCCCA All-Academic honorees.
A total of 99 USTFCCCA All-Academic individual women’s honorees represent 62 schools around the country. To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team, a student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and have either earned USTFCCCA All-America status or finished in the NCAA region’s top 15.
Garcia, an English major from South Riding, Va., earned a 10th-place finish at regionals this fall to become the second Cavalier in program history to earn four All-Southeast Region honors. She also finished ninth at ACCs to earn her second all-conference accolade and was the Cavaliers’ top finisher at NCAAs, claiming 84th overall. Garcia opened the season with an individual win at the Lou Onesty Invitational, leading the women’s squad to a perfect team score at the meet. She was named the ACC Performer of the Week for her accomplishments.
This marks Garcia’s first USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team honor, while she is also a three-time All-ACC Academic Cross Country Team honoree (2007-09) and a four-time ACC Honor Roll member.
Gay, hailing from Bethesda, Md., is majoring in biology. By finishing 10th at the 2010 ACC Championships, Gay earned her second-straight All-ACC honor. She followed that up with a fourth-place finish at regionals to pick up her third-straight All-Southeast Region honor. At the NCAA Championships, she finished 126th overall.
This marks the second-straight year Gay has been named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team. She was also named to the 2009 All-ACC Academic Cross Country Team and is a two-time ACC Honor Roll member.
As a team, Virginia’s women’s squad was named an all-academic team for compiling an overall 3.28 team cumulative GPA. The Cavaliers finished second at ACCs, won their second NCAA Southeast Region Championship in the past three years and finished 21st at NCAAs.
The Cavalier men were also honored as an all-academic team. Virginia finished fourth at ACCs and sixth at regionals, before regrouping to finish 17th at nationals – the top team in the region and second in the ACC. Virginia compiled an overall 3.00 team cumulative GPA.
To qualify as a USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team, the team must have had a cumulative team GPA of 3.00 or better and have started at least five student-athletes at their respective NCAA regional championship.