C-USA Cross Country All-Academic Teams Announced
Oct. 27, 2006 IRVING, Texas - - Conference USA has announced the 2006 Cross Country All-Academic teams. The teams consist of five men and five women that have at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point average and competed in more than half of the scheduled meets. This is the first year of the conference office has sponsored individual sports all-academic teams. Three student-athletes sport a flawless 4.00 GPA while seven have better than a 3.5. The men's team is headed by junior Brett Olson (Flower Mound, Texas) of Rice. Olson, a mechanical engineering major, has an impressive 3.95 GPA while participating in every meet this fall. UTEP is the only program to have two all-academic award winners on the same list. However, East Carolina and UCF sports one male and one female on the all-academic teams. Sophomore Japheth Ng'ojoy and junior Stephen Samoei have the Miners ranked fourth in the country. The Eldoret, Kenya, natives have led UTEP to four meet titles this season, including upsetting then-No. 2 Arkansas on its home course. They also finished third and fourth, respectively, at the 2005 C-USA Cross Country Championship to assists UTEP to its first C-USA title and 15th overall conference crown. Ng'ojoy, a 2005 All-American, sports a 3.29 GPA in biology and has a chemistry minor. Samoei enters this weekend's conference championship with impressive credentials. The 2005 C-USA Cross Country Athlete of the Year and 2004 WAC Freshman of the Year has been named C-USA Athlete of the Week twice during the 2006 season. The 2005 All-American sports a 3.34 in nursing. East Carolina's Stephen Tausend (Houston, Texas) is the only student-athlete on the men's all-academic team that has a perfect 4.0 GPA. The senior political science major has competed in four meets this season, finishing in the top -10 twice. Daniel Conn (Ocala, Fla.) of UCF wraps up the men's all-academic team with a 3.40 GPA in accounting. The sophomore was named to the 2005-06 C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and earned 2004-05 Atlantic Sun All-Academic Team merits. Each member of the 2006 women's all-academic team sports a 3.5 GPA or better. Junior Hayley Flynn (Kings Mountain, N.C.) of East Carolina and sophomore Dawn Nagazina (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) of Tulsa are two of three student-athletes on the all-academic teams that sports a 4.00 GPA. Flynn is a special and elementary education major that has finished in the top-five in two of four races in 2006. A chemical engineer major, Nagazina has appeared on the President's List twice. UAB's Jennifer Thompson (Arab, Ala.) has appeared on the Presidential Honor Roll twice. The senior has a 3.96 GPA in biology and has placed among the Blazers' top five in every meet this fall. Sophomore Emily Malinowski (Slingerlands, N.Y.) was the 2006 C-USA Academic Medal award winner and C-USA 2005-06 Commissioner's Honor Roll selection. Malinowski has led the Tigers in every meet this season while maintaining a 3.87 GPA in biological sciences. Junior Elizabeth Miller (Orlando, Fla.) of UCF has a 3.55 GPA in molecular and microbiology. She was named to the 2005-06 C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and selected to the 2004-05 Atlantic Sun All-Academic Team. Miller has scored in all four meets for the Golden Knights this fall. The 2006 Conference USA Cross Country Championships will be held in Greenville, N.C., and hosted by East Carolina at Overton Lake Kristi on Saturday, Oct. 28. The championships will feature the women's 5K race at 10:30 a.m. (ET), to be followed by the men's 8K race at 11:30 a.m. (ET). East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, Tulsa, UCF and UTEP each have a men's and women's team. SMU, Southern Miss Tulane and UAB have women's teams only. 2006 C-USA Cross Country Men's All-Academic Team 2006 C-USA Cross Country Women's All-Academic Team
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