Jan. 28, 2009

2008 Patriot League Women's Cross Country Academic Honor Roll

Center Valley, Pa. - Navy's Erica Ziel, the 2008 Patriot League Women's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year, is one of 85 women's cross country student-athletes named to this year's Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.

Ziel, a junior honors oceanography major, earned a 3.78 grade-point average for the fall term. Ziel helped Navy win the 2008 Patriot League Women's Cross Country title. Her teammate, junior Kayla Sax, is one of eight student-athletes who earned a 4.0 grade-point average for the fall term. Sax, a Richland, Wash., native, earned a 4.0 in honors systems engineering. Bucknell senior Ashley Behre also earned a 4.0 in psychology, while her teammate Colleen Gavigan, a sophomore, earned a 4.0 in cell biology and biochemistry. Colgate's Elise DeRoo, an undeclared freshman, and teammate Jessica Kielty, a senior economics and political science double major, both earned 4.0 grade-point averages for the Raiders. Holy Cross senior Colleen Spilka earned a 4.0 in psychology, while Lafayette's Erika Stasakova, a freshman majoring in government and law and foreign language, and Lehigh senior Katie McClernand, who is majoring in marketing, round out the list of student-athletes earning 4.0 grade-point averages in the fall term.

Bucknell paced all Patriot League schools with 28 student-athletes making the Academic Honor Roll. Holy Cross tallied 14 student-athletes for Honor Roll selection, while Lehigh placed 10 on the list.

To be eligible for the Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must earn a 3.20 grade-point average in the fall semester and be awarded a varsity letter in one of the Patriot League's seven fall championship sports. The criteria for awarding varsity letters are different at each institution.