SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Southern Conference announced its 2008-09 Spring Academic All-Conference Team on Wednesday which featured 28 Elon student-athletes among the 320 total honorees from the 12 member institutions. The top-performing Phoenix squad was the track and field program which landed eight members.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must possess at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point average entering the spring season.
The 320 student-athletes, from the sports of golf, tennis, outdoor track and field, baseball and softball, averaged a 3.56 GPA on a 4.0 scale. Among the various sports, the highest representation came from track and field with 113 overall (57 female, 56 male) followed by baseball with 65 and softball with 36 honorees.
Coach Mark Elliston's track and field program was represented by senior Colleen McCarthy, juniors Andrea March and Jennine Strange and sophomores Ellen Burns, Lauren Fredrickson, Lauren Hawkesworth, Melissa Turowski and Taylor Shaw.
Sophomore Tara McFadden of Coach Chris Dockrill's women's golf team boasted the highest GPA of any Elon representative – a 3.83 in exercise sport science. Juniors Ashley Barbee and Kelsey Johnson also earned the award as members of Elon's women's golf team.
The Phoenix team with the second-most honorees was Coach Michael Leonard's men's tennis squad. The five award winners from that program were seniors Damon Gooch and Kevin Beard and sophomores Chase Helpingstine, Cody Stauffer MacDowell and Oscar Podlewski.
Coach Mike Kennedy's 2009 SoCon Champion baseball team was represented by seniors Dallas Tarleton and Tom Porter, junior Mike Melillo and sophomore Greg Amorosso.
Sophomores Caleb Luther and Scott Hockemeyer were recipients from Coach Bill Morningstar's men's golf program while senior Patti Weber and sophomore Jacqueline Gonzalez claimed recognition as members of Coach Patti Raduenz's softball team.
The Phoenix women's tennis program, coached by Elizabeth Anderson, saw senior Whitney Butcher, juniors Paige Kensrue and Hayley Wahl and sophomore Jessica Margolis pick up recognition.
In the three seasons, Elon saw 78 of its student-athletes honored as Academic All-SoCon selections during the 2008-09 year.
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