Towson University?s women?s track and field team ranks 17th nationally among 130 schools on the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association?s 2009 Division I All-Academic team list just released.
To be nominated a team must carry a minimum 3.000 cumulative grade point average. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga tops the list with a 3.550. The Tigers are 17th with a 3.416 GPA. Harvard is 16th with a 3.417.
The Tigers lead a contingent of six track teams in the Colonial Athletic Association. Delaware is 44th with a 3.311 followed by Northeastern in 67th place with a 3.249, William & Mary in 84th with a 3.205, Georgia State in 102nd with a 3.130 and UNC Wilmington in 127th with a 3.040.
?The girls really feed off each other,? says coach Roger Erricker. ?Academics have become a very important part of our team. We?re so proud of our GPA that no one wants to bring it down. To be ranked 17th nationally is fantastic. It?s also a tribute to the job our academic support staff has done and the emphasis as a department we place on academics.?
There are three student-athletes at Towson among the Tigers? 460 with perfect 4.0 GPA?s. Two of those student-athletes are members of the track and field squad; senior Michelle Donadio (pre-pharmacy major) and junior Brandi Gervais (pre-dentistry major). Twenty-seven of the 34 members of the 2008-09 Tigers’ track team have GPA’s of 3.0 or higher.
