Sharonda Johnson earned her second Academic All-America award |
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Ficken, Johnson on ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Second Team
June 22, 2006
Waltham, Mass. - Charlotte 49ers senior Cassie Ficken (Conifer, Colo.) and junior Sharonda Johnson (Raleigh, N.C.) have been selected to the 2006 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America University Division Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Second Team, it was announced today. They are among 18 student-athletes on the national second team. There were 14 first-team selections.
This marks the second Academic All-America award for Johnson, who was a third team selection in 2004. She becomes the third two-time winner in school history, while no student-athlete has ever won three times.
It is the first Academic All-America award for Ficken, who was this year's Atlantic 10 Women's Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year and has been nominated for the league's overall Women's Student-Athlete of the Year award (voting currently underway).
Ficken and Johnson are the only student-athletes in Charlotte history to earn All-America honors both athletically and academically. Johnson was the first to accomplish that feat with athletic and academic All-America awards in 2004. Ficken was an NCAA All-America during the 2005 indoor season and now adds her Academic All-America award.
These awards are the 17th and 18th in the school's history, and give the Niners four national-level academic awards in three different sports this school year.
Past winners are Siobhan Riley (women's at-large/tennis, 1985), Craig Brown (men's soccer, 1986), Steve Wagoner (baseball, 1986 and 1987), Chris Mark (men's at-large/tennis, 1992 and 93), Jim Kunevicius (men's at-large/soccer, 1997 and 98), Tiffany Howard (softball, 1998), Karin Levin (women's at-large/track and field, 2001), Jobey Thomas (men's basketball, 2002), Ola Jonsson (men's tennis, 2002), Lindsey Duncan (women's soccer, 2003), Sharonda Johnson (women's track & field, 2004), Lindsey Beam-Ozimek (women's soccer, 2005), and Mike Ambrose (baseball, 2006).
Charlotte's current pair had advanced to the national ballot by earning First Team Academic All-District III honors last month, as selected by the membership of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). That organization's Academic All-America committee members chose the national teams.
Ficken was the 2005-06 Atlantic 10 Conference Women's Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year, as chosen by the league's sports information offices. She competed at her second consecutive NCAA Outdoor Track Championships two weekends ago, where she finished 13th in the 5,000-meter run. Ficken was an All-American in the 3,000-meter run during the 2005 indoor season, finishing seventh in the nation.
This academic year, Ficken captured A-10 championships in the outdoor 1,500 and indoor mile and 3,000. She also posted a second place finish outdoors in the 5,000 and a third-place finish in the 4x800 relay. Over her four-year career, she has earned 12 All-Conference awards, seven school records, and two Conference Student-Athlete of the Year awards (2006 A-10 and 2005 Conference USA).
Ficken carries a 4.00 GPA in graduate-level studies while pursuing a master's degree in civil engineering.
Johnson scored 22 points toward the 49ers' Atlantic 10 Conference women's outdoor team title, including an A-10 Championship in the triple jump. It was her fourth career triple jump league title. She was also third in both the long jump and high jump.
Earlier this spring, she posted an NCAA Regional qualification in the triple jump in her first meet back following a year-long layoff (knee surgery), ultimately finished 11th in the East Region triple jump competition, and was considered for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.
Johnson became the school's first-ever dual athletic and academic All-American in 2004. Athletically, she earned her All-America award in the triple jump at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Academically, she was a third-team Academic All-America choice that year.
Johnson carries a 3.87 cumulative GPA in chemistry.
Both Ficken and Johnson were ESPN the Magazine Second Team Academic All-District III honorees last year, as well as U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic awardwinners. They are among the school's most-decorated student-athletes both on and off the track.
To be eligible for the Academic All-America process, a student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
ESPN The Magazine - winner of the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence - is a provocative and innovative sports publication. Full of insight, analysis, impact and wit, the oversized bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.85 million looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of sports.
The Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA (the College Sports Information Directors of America), a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.
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