Cross Country Earns Eighth-Consecutive All-Academic Team Award

The men's and women's cross country teams at

preseason camp in Madison County, VA,

Shown here at White Oak Canon Falls.

Both the Spider men's and women's teams were honored by the USTFCCCA.

By Mike DeGeorge

Richmond Sports Information

Link to this article on Spiders Sports Network: http://www.richmondspiders.com/sports/c-xc/spec-rel/031010aaa.html

March 10, 2010

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND - For the eighth season in a row, both the University of Richmond men's and women's cross country teams earned the All-Academic Team award from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

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

The men following the 2009 Atlantic 10 Championships.

"We are proud that our teams have earned All-Academic Team honors," said head men's coach Steve Taylor. "Each year we place this as a goal for our men's and women's teams. It shows that our men and women balance intense, competitive athletics with exceptional academic achievements. As a non-scholarship program our men compete to bring recognition to our University's cross country and track & field teams and continue to excel in both."

The men accumulated the highest team GPA of any Virginia Division-I program.

"We are proud of the academic achievements of our programs," said women's coach Lori Taylor. "As a team it is their expectation that our team achieves at the highest level academically and athletically. They have established a tradition that we intend to continue."

The women shown on the start line

at the University of Virginia Invitational.

This announcement by the USTFCCCA comes on the heels of 22 Spider runners being selected to the Atlantic 10 Commissioners Honor Roll for achieving a 3.5 GPA or greater during the fall semester.

Garrett Graham has one of the top men's GPA's...
...and Julie Rechel holds the highest individual GPA on the women's team.