Roberts, Shackleford Named Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Student-Athletes of the Year

Roberts, Shackleford Named Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Student-Athletes of the Year

Bookmark and Share

FRISCO, Texas ? Southeastern Louisiana junior Cory Roberts and Stephen F. Austin junior Amy Shackleford have been named the 2009 Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Student-Athletes of the Year, the league office announced Wednesday in conjunction with the release of the 2008-09 cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field all-academic teams.

 

Arguably the Southland Conference’s top all-around athlete in 2009, Roberts made his mark both during competition and in the classroom at Southeastern Louisiana. The junior from Meraux, La., posted a 3.84 grade-point average as a major in biological sciences and was the conference’s lone representative on the 2009 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI University Division Track and Field/Cross Country First Team. He is also a two-time selection to the Southland Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll, and a two-time member of the all-academic team.

 

In the athletic arena, Roberts competed chiefly in the heptathlon during the indoor season and in the decathlon during outdoor.  After finishing second at the conference indoor championships in the pentathlon, Roberts dedicated himself to coming out on top in the decathlon at the outdoor championships. Roberts, who twice this season set the school record in the decathlon, went on to win the 2009 decathlon championship as Southeastern Louisiana claimed its first men’s outdoor conference championship. In addition, Roberts qualified for the regional meet and was one of two Lions to represent the Southland Conference at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where he placed 19th.

 

Shackleford, a two-time all-academic selection and six-time Stephen F. Austin athletic director’s and Southland Conference commissioner’s honor roll selection, polished off a perfect junior campaign in the classroom in 2009. A native of Port Neches, Texas, Shackelford posted a perfect 4.0 GPA as a kinesiology major and biology minor.

 

The Ladyjacks’ junior, who with a redshirt still has two years of athletic eligibility remaining, utilized an impressive indoor season to push her into outdoor success. Shackleford just missed a pair of all-conference honors at the indoor championships when she placed fourth in the 3,000 and 5,000 races. But there would be no near-misses in the outdoor championships, as Shackleford became the fourth Southland student-athlete in five years to pull off the distance double at the 2009 conference meet when she ran past the field in both the 5,000 and 10,000. Those performances helped Stephen F. Austin net its second women’s conference outdoor championship.

 

Joining the 2009 student-athletes of the year on the all-academic team, which includes student-athletes that competed in cross country in the fall, indoor track and field in the winter and outdoor track and field this spring, are 19 men and 24 women. Included among the all-academic honorees are Lamar senior Samuel Kosgei and UTSA junior Dana Mecke, the respective men’s and women’s student-athletes of the year for both the cross country and indoor track and field seasons.

 

Sam Houston State and Texas State earned a league-best seven combined men’s and women’s all-academic honors while Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin netted five apiece.

 

The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 12 member schools, voted for the student-athletes of the year. The student-athlete of the year award is presented to the one male and one female student-athlete who achieve excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and demonstrated achievement in athletics for at least two years at the nominating institution.

 

The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each Southland university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.

 

The 2009 Southland Conference Cross Country and Track and Field All-Academic Teams are comprised of student-athletes that competed in cross country, indoor track and field and/or outdoor track and field. Student-athletes earn automatic qualification onto the Southland Conference All-Academic Team if they maintain a GPA of 3.0 in addition to earning either first-team all-conference honors in any of the three seasons and/or a CoSIDA Academic All-District VI Selection.

 

Included in Capital One’s support of the Southland Conference’s Academic Awards Program is the F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship, the All-Academic Teams, the Student-Athlete of the Year, the Scholar-Athlete Award and the Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

 

2009 Southland Conference Men’s Track and Field and Cross Country All-Academic Team

 

Name

School

Class

Hometown

GPA

Major

Frank Bwambale2

Lamar

Sr.

Nakifuma, Uganda

3.19

General Studies/Health

Samuel Kosgei2,4

Lamar

Jr.

Kapchorwa, Uganda

3.23

Health

Ewan Simpson4

Lamar

Sr.

Kincardine, Scotland

3.42

Exercise Science

Ben Chretien

McNeese State

So.

Elton, La.

3.07

Management

Greg Hall

Northwestern State

So.

Alexandria, La.

3.50

Health/Exercise Science

Corey Jones

Northwestern State

Sr.

Diboll, Texas

3.06

Computer Information Systems

Chris Pearson4

Northwestern State

Sr.

Mt. Vernon, Texas

3.86

Business Administration

Chris Cralle2,4

Sam Houston State

Jr.

College Station, Texas

3.27

Political Science

Dustin Joubert

Sam Houston State

Gr.

Coppell, Texas

4.00

Exercise Physiology

Chris Nelson

Sam Houston State

Sr.

Humble, Texas

3.15

Finance

Jerel Butler

Southeastern La.

So.

New Orleans, La.

3.38

Finance

Cory Roberts1,2,3,4

Southeastern La.

Jr.

Meraux, La.

3.84

Biological Sciences

Henry Rop2

Southeastern La.

So.

Kapsabet, Kenya

3.34

Nursing

Keith Mahipala2,4

Stephen F. Austin

Jr.

Plano, Texas

3.66

Biology

Takeshi Fujiwara

UT Arlington

Sr.

San Salvador, El Salvador

3.33

Business Administration

Byron Majors

UT Arlington

Jr.

Cameron, Texas

3.09

Exercise Science

Dillard Glass

UTSA

So.

Gonzales, Texas

3.65

Mechanical Engineering

Ari Perez

A&M-Corpus Christi

So.

Corpus Christi, Texas

3.48

Management

Jarrod Buddin

Texas State

Sr.

Southlake, Texas

3.73

Finance

 

1 2009 Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year

2 First Team All-Conference

3 CoSIDA All-Academic District VI

4 Two-time All-Academic Selection

 

2009 Southland Conference Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country All-Academic Team

 

Name

School

Class

Hometown

GPA

Major

DeAnn Washington4

McNeese State

Jr.

Milano, Texas

3.24

Nursing

Leslie Bourgeois2,3

Nicholls State

Sr.

Raceland, La.

3.37

General Studies

Jessica Tuck

Northwestern State

Sr.

Jessica Tuck

3.35

Psychology

Andrea Warren

Northwestern State

So.

Lake Charles, La.

3.00

Family and Consumer Sciences

Bridget Costello

Sam Houston State

Sr.

Corpus Christi, Texas

3.67

Education

Kristi Hermes4

Sam Houston State

Jr.

Victoria, Texas

3.53

Biology

Tiana Lee2,4

Sam Houston State

Sr.

Arlington, Texas

3.41

Education

Dess Meek2

Sam Houston State

So.

Newton, Texas

3.17

Kinesiology

Dorcus Kapkiai2,3

Southeastern La.

So.

Eldoret, Kenya

3.67

General Studies

Kaitlyn Andrews2

Stephen F. Austin

Jr.

Georgetown, Ontario

3.50

Kinesiology

Silent-Joy Egboba-Waye2,4

Stephen F. Austin

Jr.

Lancaster, Texas

3.01

Professional Accountancy

Frednisha Marshall2

Stephen F. Austin

Jr.

Tyler, Texas

3.49

Education

Amy Shackleford1,2,4

Stephen F. Austin

Jr.

Port Neches, Texas

4.00

Kinesiology

Caroline Erlingson

UT Arlington

Jr.

Angelholm, Sweden

3.42

Biological Chemistry

Jessica Jones2,4

UTSA

Jr.

Fresno, Texas

3.00

Business

Dana Mecke2,4

UTSA

Jr.

Bulverde, Texas

3.95

Mechanical Engineering

Meghan Lemke2,4

A&M-Corpus Christi

Jr.

Tomahawk, Wis.

3.33

Health Science/Business Admin.

Anne Ronoh2

A&M-Corpus Christi

So.

Iten, Kenya

3.27

Nursing

Heather Bullin2,3

Texas State

Jr.

Cedar Park, Texas

3.92

Exercise and Sports Science

Tenley Determan2,5

Texas State

Sr.

College Station, Texas

3.72

Psychology

Jannah Evans3

Texas State

Jr.

Lago Vista, Texas

3.72

Exercise and Sports Science

Katie Evans3

Texas State

Jr.

Helotes, Texas

3.72

International Studies

Jennifer Matthews2

Texas State

Grad.

Matthews, Texas

3.33

Agricultural Education

Mary Beth O’Connor

Texas State

Jr.

Colleyville, Texas

3.88

Communication Studies

1 2009 Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year

2 First Team All-Conference

3 CoSIDA All-Academic District VI

4 Two-time All-Academic Selection

5 Three-time All-Academic Selection