Lamarra Currie continues the Charlotte track program's tradition of excellence on and off the track. |
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Lamarra Currie Earns ESPN the Magazine Academic First-Team All-America Award
June 25, 2008
Charlotte, N.C. - Charlotte 49ers track and field star Lamarra Currie added another honor to her 2008 resume, earning ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-America honors this week. Currie (Apex, N.C./Apex HS), who completed her competition season with an appearance at her second NCAA Track and Field Championship, finished with a perfect 4.0 grade point average in psychology. This honor adds to the already stout list which includes 2008 Atlantic 10 Women's Outdoor Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year and Track Performer of the Year as well as her ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Women's Track & Field first team selection.
The 49ers track & field team has had at least one person on an Academic All-American team each of the last five seasons. Currie is the third 49er to earn this honor, following women's soccer star Lindsey Ozimek and men's golfer Jonas Enander Hedin.
Currie, who has been an All-District selection for two consecutive years, earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championship after posting qualifying times in the 100m and as a member of the 4x100m relay team at the East Regional. She had previously participated at the NCAA Championships with the relay team, but this was the first time she also qualified individually. This season, she won both the 100m and 200m dashes at the A-10 Outdoor Championships, matching her two event titles in the 55m and 200m at the indoor championships en route to leading her team to three-consecutive conference titles in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. The junior owns 16 top-10 all-time program records in outdoor events, notably including her membership on the 2006 4x100m record-breaking team.
Academic All-America Teams are selected by The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in 12 programs: football, women's volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's track & field/cross country, women's track & field/cross country, men's at-large and women's at-large. A first team, second team and third team are selected in both the University (Division I and I-AA) and College (Division II, III and NAIA) Divisions. Football consists of just first and second teams.
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To be nominated, the student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for his/her career. Only first-team all-district performers advance onto the final ballot. No athlete is eligible until he/she has reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution (thus, true freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible transfers are not eligible). In the cases of transfers, graduate students and junior college graduates, the athlete must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to be eligible.
