Bernadette Washington after receiving the Chancellor's Citation for Leadership & Service |
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Washington and Ficken Receive C-USA Academic Awards
June 30, 2005
Irving, Texas and Charlotte, N.C. - Charlotte 49ers track & field stars Bernadette Washington and Cassie Ficken each received Conference USA academic honors on Thursday, helping close out the school's 10-year run as a member of the conference on a high note. Ficken was chosen as C-USA's women's track & field scholar-athlete of the year, while Washington was one of just seven winners of the C-USA Post-Graduate Scholarship.
Bernadette Washington spent four years as a sprinter on the 49ers track & field team (2002-05), garnering numerous academic awards and helping the 49ers to unprecedented success on the track during that period. She was one of just seven graduating student-athletes conference-wide to receive a $5,000 scholarship to pursue post-graduate study. The award winners were chosen by the league's Faculty Athletics Representatives.
Washington made the Dean's List in 2002, 2003 and 2004, and was named to the Conference USA Academic Honor Roll in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. She was awarded the UNC Charlotte Chancellor's Citation for Leadership and Service this year, and plans to pursue a master's degree at Charlotte.
A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Bernadette was chosen as one of the inaugural Coca-Cola Community Service All-Americans in 2004 for her efforts in the community. Specifically, she helped organize a Bingo Night at Britthaven Nursing Home, tutored children through Charlotte's Police Athletic League program, and participated in a Read-a-Thon at Mallard Creek Elementary School. In 2003, she was selected as the 49ers representative to the NCAA's Leadership Conference; an annual event held in Florida for outstanding student athletes.
On the track, Washington was a member on the 4x400-meter relay team that broke the school record this indoor season. She also ranks among the school's all-time top 10 in the 55, 60, 100, 200, and 400 meter dashes individually, and is a part of two different relay teams that rank second on the 49ers career charts.
Cassie Ficken was the scholar-athlete award winner for women's track & field, sharing that distinction with Lisa Hyman of Memphis. C-USA Scholar Athlete of the Year awards are presented to the top student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport. The award is based on academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service.
Cassie's athletic achievements in 2005 have been well documented. She became the school's first-ever indoor All-American in a distance event this winter, when she finished just four seconds off the pace in the women's 3,000-meter run. Ficken was the Conference USA Indoor Track Female Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Championships during indoor season, leading the 49ers to a best-ever second place finish at the C-USA meet. She took two individual titles and one relay title at the meet. Ficken also advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships this spring.
Off the track, Ficken earned second team ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA All-District III Academic honors this spring. She was nominated with a cumulative GPA of 3.586 in civil engineering (prior to spring grades). Ficken was also named to the C-USA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll and made Charlotte's Chancellor's List this spring. Earlier this year, she was awarded the Carolina Panthers Post-Graduate Scholarship. The $5,000 award will help Ficken finish Charlotte's dual BS/MS Civil Engineering program.
Washington and Ficken's awards add to Charlotte's academic successes during the 2004-05 year. Fellow track & field competitor Sharonda Johnson was chosen as the national-level Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar of the Year by Black Issues in Higher Education, putting her at the head of minority candidates from across the NCAA. Johnson also earned the school's first-ever Student-Athlete Achievement Award, given by academic leaders on campus.
Charlotte had four ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees this spring, and six total during this academic year. Zvi Lantsburg (men's tennis) and Jennifer Hatch (women's tennis) were each chosen to the first team Academic All-District III team and represented the 49ers on the national ballot. Leslie Canales (first team) and Kim Miles (second team) represented the Charlotte on the women's soccer Academic All-District team during the fall. Additionally, the women's cross country team was cited for a national academic award by the Women's Collegiate Cross Country Coaches Association.
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