March 5, 2009
NEW ORLEANS - The San Diego State women's cross country team earned All-Academic Team honors from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), the USTFCCCA announced on Thursday. In order to be eligible for national accolades, a team must have a minimum 3.00 team cumulative grade point average (GPA) and must have competed and compiled a team score at an NCAA Regional meet.
SDSU, which was one of eight Mountain West Conference schools and one of a record 160 total schools to garner national recognition, had a team GPA of 3.170. As a league, the MWC matched the Atlantic Coast Conference's eight teams and finished behind only the Big East and Big Ten Conferences, which had 11 schools represented, and the Southeastern and Big 12 Conferences, which had nine.
Over forty-five percent of all Division I institutions (394) who sponsor women's cross country received the honor and the 160 honorees were two more than the 158 schools that received All-Academic Team status a year ago.
On the course, San Diego State posted five top-10 finishes in 2008, including a runner-up finish at the Big Wave Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii.