C-USA Release of 2008 Cross Country All-Academic Team

Dec. 10, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - University of Memphis Cross Country athlete Emily Malinowski received her third All-Conference USA Academic Honor in a row as announced by the league office Tuesday and voted on by the league's sports information directors for cross country. She is the only Memphis track and field or cross country athlete to receive this honor.

"I can't explain how proud we are of Emily and what she has accomplished both athletically and academically with her third conference All-Academic award," said head coach Kevin Robinson about Malinowski. "She has a very bright and productive future ahead of her and she deserves everything that she achieves."

As a senior, she has maintained a 3.867 GPA as a biology major. Malinowski led the Tigers in all six of their meets in 2008. She has also been on the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team in 2007, was on the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and earned the C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal three years in 2006, 2007, and 2008. She earned a 4.0 for two semesters at Memphis and also made the Dean's list for five semesters. She had three top-20 finishes this season and had a season best time of 20:04.89 5k time at the UALR Invitational. At the C-USA Championships she was the first Memphis runner to cross the finish line and in 62nd place with a time of 20:24.

"What Emily has achieved here is an indicator of where we are trying to take our cross country and track and field programs in terms of academic success," said Robinson. "I feel that Emily's is where we have started and hopefully we will be able to continue beyond Emily Malinowski and build on what she has achieved as a student-athlete."

Five male athletes and a total of 11 female student-athletes have been named to the Conference USA Cross Country All-Academic Team as announced by the league office Tuesday and voted on by the league's sports information directors for cross country. The all-academic team consists of student-athletes who have earned a 3.2 cumulative grade point average or better. In addition to the five female student-athletes on the first team, six female student-athletes have been named to the second team. Due to the large number of nominations submitted to the conference office on the women's side, a second team was created to honor the efforts of those individuals who continue to excel in and outside of the classroom.

2008 C-USA Cross Country Men's All-Academic Team
Name		School	Cl.	GPA	Major				Hometown
Brad Morris	Rice	Jr.	3.67  	Chemistry			Peachtree City, Ga.
*Brett Olson	Rice	Sr.	3.96	Civil Engineering		Flower Mound, Texas
John Beattie	Tulsa	Jr.	4.00	MBA				Southampton, England
Patrick Mutai	UTEP	Sr.	3.23 	Nursing (Minor: Biology)	Eldoret, Kenya
Japheth Ng'ojoy	UTEP	Sr.	3.32	Biology (Minor: Chemistry)	Kapsabet, Kenya
2008 C-USA Cross Country Women's All-Academic Team
First Team
Name			School		Cl.	GPA	Major			Hometown
Kathleen Clark		Marshall 	So.	4.00	Marketing 		Twinsburg, Ohio
*Emily Malinowski	Memphis  	Sr.	3.87	Biology			Slingerlands, N.Y.
Lennie Waite		Rice		Sr.	3.84	Psychology		Austin, Texas
Dawn Nagazina 		Tulsa		Jr.	3.87	Chemical Engineering	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Stephanie Gammon	UAB		So.	3.96	Health Sciences		Central, S.C.
Second Team
Name		School 	Cl.	GPA	Major			 Hometown
Allison Pye	Rice	So.	3.99	Undeclared		Houston, Texas
Silje Fjortoft	SMU	So.	3.88 	Undecided		Orsta, Norway
Jessa Simmons	SMU	Sr. 	3.42	Mathematics		Portland, Texas
*Alex Becker	Tulsa	Sr.	3.62	Elementary Education	Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Allison Palmer	UCF	Sr.	3.52	Mathematics Education	Oviedo, Fla.
(Minor: Math & Spanish)
Ocean Cohen	UCF	So.	3.62	Biology		Sarasota, Fla.
 *Repeat Selection