Feb. 27, 2008

NEW ORLEANS - The 2007 Illinois State women's cross country team was recognized as an NCAA Division I United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Women's All-Academic Cross Country Team, as announced Tuesday by the USTFCCCA office.

The Illinois State women's cross country team earned the distinction by achieving a 3.33 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) in the Fall 2007 semester, and a 14th-place finish (389 points) at the NCAA Midwest Regional (Nov. 10, 2007).

ISU head cross country coach Jeff Bovee felt that the women were able to successfully balance their academic and athletic responsibilities during the fall season and is proud of his team.

"As a coach, my goal is to encourage our student-athletes to strive for excellence in the classroom and on the playing field," said Bovee. "Our women demonstrated that they were able to handle both roles, and that is something we not only encourage, but expect. We recruit quality student-athletes, and we hold high expectations for them both academically and athletically."

Highlighting ISU's top-academic performances were freshmen Lisa Devereux and Michelle Brunk, who both contributed 4.00 GPAs in their first academic semester as Redbird student-athletes. Senior Suzy Turner was recognized as a Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete and was also named to the all-conference team for her sixth-place finish (17:40.71) at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championships (Oct. 27, 2007), where she keyed the Redbird women's team to a fourth-place team finish. The Palatine, Ill., native holds a 3.75 cumulative GPA in biological sciences.

In all, 158 NCAA Division I women's programs received the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honor. There are 325 teams in the NCAA Division I that sponsor women's cross country. Of the 158 teams on the list, 35 of them had team GPAs over 3.50. South Florida, from the Big East Conference, led all schools with a team GPA of 3.78.

The Big 12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference had the most programs on the All-Academic Team list with ten apiece. The Missouri Valley Conference, Big East Conference and Big Ten Conference each had nine teams on the list.

For a team to be considered for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team award, it must have competed and compiled a team score at an NCAA Regional Meet. The team must also have a minimum 3.00 team cumulative GPA.