Ficken and Johnson Earn Track First Team Academic All-District
June 2, 2006
Chapel Hill, N.C. - Charlotte 49ers senior Cassie Ficken (Conifer, Colo.) and junior Sharonda Johnson (Raleigh, N.C.) have each been chosen ESPN the Magazine University Division Track & Field First Team Academic All-District III, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Both automatically advance to the balloting for national-level Academic All-America honors.
The University Division Academic All-District III First Team consists of 10 top student-athletes from Division I institutions in the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. All 10 student-athletes on the first team automatically advance to the national Academic All-America balloting.
ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America teams are scheduled to be named in women's track & field on June 22.
Johnson was a third-team Academic All-America on the national level in 2004. Both Ficken and Johnson were ESPN the Magazine Second Team Academic All-District III honorees last year, as well as U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic awardwinners.
Ficken was the 2005-06 Atlantic 10 Conference Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year, as chosen by the league's sports information offices. She is competing at her second consecutive NCAA Outdoor Track Championships next week in the 5,000-meter run, and was an All-American in the 3,000-meter run during the 2005 indoor season.
Ficken captured A-10 championships in the outdoor 1,500 and indoor mile and 3,000. She also posted a second place finish outdoors in the 5,000 and a third-place finish in the 4x800 relay. Over her four-year career, she has earned 12 All-Conference awards, seven school records, and two Conference Student-Athlete of the Year awards (2006 A-10 and 2005 Conference USA).
Ficken carries a 4.00 GPA in graduate-level studies while pursuing a master's degree in civil engineering.
Johnson scored 22 points toward the 49ers' Atlantic 10 Conference women's outdoor team title, including an A-10 Championship in the triple jump. It was her fourth career triple jump league title. She was also third in both the long jump and high jump.
Earlier this spring, she posted an NCAA Regional qualification in the triple jump in her first meet back following a year-long layoff (knee surgery), ultimately finished 11th in the East Region triple jump competition, and was considered for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.
Johnson became the school's first-ever dual athletic and academic All-American in 2004. Athletically, she earned her All-America award in the triple jump at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Academically, she was a third-team Academic All-America choice that year.
Johnson carries a 3.87 cumulative GPA in chemistry.
To be eligible for the Academic All-America process, a student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
ESPN The Magazine - winner of the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence - is a provocative and innovative sports publication. Full of insight, analysis, impact and wit, the oversized bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.85 million looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of sports.
The Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA (the College Sports Information Directors of America), a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.
University Division Track & Field Academic All-District III - First Team
Anne Bersagel, Wake Forest
Dara Altman, Florida
Jennifer Barton, Clemson
Cassie Ficken, Charlotte
Sharonda Johnson, Charlotte
Michelle Sikes, Wake Forest
Gunild Kreb, Virginia Tech
Carrie Selmer, Winthrop
Laura Gerraughty, North Carolina
Lacy Janson, Florida State
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