Upstate Cross Country Squads Garner All-Academic Nods
2/25/2013 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katie Parker, kparker@uscupstate.edu
NEW ORLEANS – The USC Upstate men's and women's cross country teams earned 2012 Division I All-Academic Cross Country status as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Monday, while senior Gilbert Kemboi was an All-Academic Honoree.
This is the second-straight USTFCCCA All-Academic honor for the Spartan women as they earned the recognition last year as well. This is the first such honor for the Upstate men's team. The women's team tabbed a 3.465 GPA back in the fall, while the men's team posted 3.076 GPA last semester.
"Academics and education is the priority of why we do what we do even in the arena of athletics because at the end of the day a coach is simply an educator who has the advantage of teaching and each week getting to see their athletes show what they have learned," said Upstate Head Coach Natalie Smith. "Seeing our athletes produce in the classroom gives us an equal amount of joy as seeing them win a championship and that is truly the case here with our cross country teams. They are the cream of the crop when it comes to our program in the classroom."
"Earning All-Academic honors proves that our team embodies the true student-athlete," said Upstate Associate Head Coach Carson Blackwelder. "We are very proud of their achievements in the classroom."
Kemboi picked-up his second consecutive All-Academic Honoree nod, after recording a 3.545 cumulative GPA at the end of the fall 2012 semester, while majoring in sociology. This is the senior's second academic award this year as he was named the 2012 Atlantic Sun Conference Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The Eldoret, Kenya native won his third A-Sun Cross Country Championship Oct. 27, helping the Spartans claim back-to-back conference team titles. Kemboi recorded the third fastest time in A-Sun meet history at 2012 championship with a time of 24:16.70. He went on to post a six-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regionals to qualify for Nationals, where he earned a 42nd-place finish, just missing the top 40 and All-American status by five seconds. Kemboi is the first athlete in Upstate's Division I era across all sports to advance to an NCAA Championship event.
"As for Gilbert, we continue to congratulate him on all his successes and it really is impressive to see him be as consistent as he has in and outside of the classroom all four years," Smith said. "This says so much about this young man and his work ethic."
As a team, the Spartan men came in 15th in a very tough Southeast region, marking the best finish in program history. On the women's side, Upstate finished 35th in the team standings at the region meet, where four Spartans turned in personal-best times in the 6K.
To qualify as a USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team, the squad must have a cumulative team GPA of 3.00 or better and have started at least five runners at their respective NCAA regional championship. There were 145 men's programs that received the honor and 200 women's teams.
For an individual to qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative GPA of .25 and have either earned USTFCCCA All-America status or finished in the NCAA region's top 15 (or top 10 percent) in 2012. A total of 67 student-athletes representing 40 institutions compose the men's All-Academic Honoree list.
"I am just as excited for the programs as I was seeing Gilbert become the first qualifier in our school history for the national championships at the Division I level," Smith said. "Receiving these awards were one of the goals that Coach Blackwelder placed on the board back in August and to now see that come to pass is very rewarding. Our teams are well deserving of this award and we look to make these types of awards a tradition in our programs."
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