Sang Earns National All-Academic Track & Field Honors
7/25/2012 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
NEW ORLEANS – Graduating senior Jemeli Sang (Eldoret, Kenya) of the USC Upstate women's track & field team was named to the 2012 Division I All-Academic Track & Field Team by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) as announced by the organization Wednesday, July 25.
Sang snagged a spot on the All-Academic list with a 3.477 GPA, while majoring in chemistry. During the 2011-12 academic year, she was named to the Atlantic Sun Conference All-Academic teams for cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. The distance runner also claimed USTFCCCA All-Academic honors for cross country.
"Jemeli is so worthy of this award," said head coach Natalie Smith. "Jemeli had a phenomenal year this year both on and off the track. She was a true team leader from being a cross country and outdoor track & field individual champion along with carrying the women's team by being our individual leading scorer in both indoor and outdoor track & field."
During the outdoor season, she earned first team and second team honors at the 2012 A-Sun Outdoor Championships. She won the 10,000-meter conference title with a time of 35:44.15 and crossed the line second at the conference meet in the 5,000-meter with a time of 17:29.44. The senior recorded a program-best time of 16:35.36 in the 5K at the Duke Invitational. Sang also posted a school record time of 35:06.57 in the 10K at N.C. State's Raleigh Relays.
In the outdoor NCAA East Regional Preliminaries, she ran the 5,000-meter in 16:44.92 to finish 23rd in the field of 48 runners. Sang entered the event with the 38th-best qualifying mark and finished 15 positions ahead of that qualifying slot. She claimed 21st in the 10,000-meter at the NCAA Regional Prelims with a time of 35:32.16. She entered the 10K race qualifying in the 33rd spot and improved her position by 12 finishers.
"Jemeli is well admired and respected by her teammates and also by professors and our coaching staff," Smith said. "She is a delight to work with and made huge strides in her time here at Upstate. Losing her leadership this year is going to be a huge deficit for us because Jemeli is such the 'total package' student-athlete that her shoes honestly cannot be filled."
At the Atlantic Sun Indoor Championships, Sang earned two second-place finishes in the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter events with times of 9:54.12 and 17:19.19, respectively. The senior set a school record in the 3,000-meter at the Niswonger Invitational Jan. 28, crossing the line with a first-place time of 9:51.61.
"Jemeli is an example of what class looks like," Smith said. "She is a very humble young lady and has a very bright future ahead of her. We are very proud of her and look forward to see what the future holds for her as she moves from being a student to becoming a professional."
To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track & Field Team, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and have met either of the following athletic standards: for the indoor season, a student-athlete must have finished the regular season ranked in the national top 96 in an individual event or ranked in the national top 48 (collective listing) in a relay event on the official NCAA POP list provided by TFRRS.org; for the outdoor season, a student-athlete must have participated in any round of the NCAA Division I Championships (including preliminary rounds).
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