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Academic success celebrated for Centre athletes
RELEASED: Feb. 16, 2006
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| Fours years on the SCAC Academic Honor Roll: Kristie Kachler, Jeff Briggs, Michael Swartzentruber and Taylor Vaughan |
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DANVILLE, KY—Student athletes in Centre College's fall sports programs were honored recently for combining success in competition with academic excellence.
Cross Country teams, individuals garner academic All-American honors
Both the men's and women's cross-country teams have been named academic All-Americans for fall 2005. Four Centre students—senior Jeff Briggs (Strongsville, Ohio), junior Eileen Schilling (Louisville), sophomore Nate Blank (Frakes, Ky.), and freshman Chase Wilson (Paducah, Ky.)—also received individual all-America honors.
To be eligible, an individual student-athlete must record a 3.5 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) and must finish in the top 25 percent of the regional competition. Schilling was fourth overall in the regional meet for the women's team. Blank finished eighth overall at the regional meet this year, followed by Briggs in 16th and Wilson in 28th. Blank and Schilling were also academic All-Americans in 2004.
Both the men's and women's teams were named academic All-American teams for the second consecutive year. The men's team recorded an outstanding 3.52 team GPA, while the women followed close behind with a 3.27.
Along with the classroom success, both teams had strong athletic seasons. The men's team placed in the top five in six of its eight meets, winning three of those meets including the South/Southeast Regional Championships. With that win, the men qualified for their second straight NCAA Championships, finishing 22nd overall, the highest in school history.
The women's team earned six top-10 finishes in seven meets, including three top-five finishes and one win. The Colonels put two runners on both the all-SCAC team and all-region team. Schilling earned all-SCAC and all-region honors for the third time each and qualified for her third NCAA Championship meet.
62 Centre fall student-athletes make SCAC Academic Honor Roll
The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) has announced that 62 Centre College fall student-athletes have been named to the SCAC Student-Athlete Academic Honor Roll for the 2005 fall term. Based on total enrollment, Centre owns the highest percentage of Academic All-SCAC members with 5.63 percent of the Centre student body qualifying for the Honor Roll. Rhodes College is second with 3.98 percent, followed by DePauw University with 3.91 percent.
Four of this year's 62 honorees have been named to the team four years: Jeff Briggs and Kristie Kachler for cross-country; Michael Swartzentruber and Taylor Vaughan for football.
Since the fall of 2002, the number of Centre student-athletes on the honor roll has increased each year. In 2002, 33 student-athletes were honored, followed by 38 in 2003 and 51 in 2004. In the nine years the honor roll has been in existence, Centre has had 854 selections.
A student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.25 for the term and be a regular member of the a varsity athletic team in a sport sponsored by the conference to be eligible.
Below is a list by sport of each student-athlete named to the honor roll.
(Asterisks denote number of years named to honor roll.)
| Men's Cross Country Nate Blank ** Jeff Briggs **** Eric Hack Mark Noll *** Joey Polio John Schuler John Thompson ** Chase Wilson Women's Cross Country Field Hockey
Football |
Men's Soccer Women's Soccer
Volleyball |
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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/
For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.
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