41 Fall Sports Spartans Earn Academic All-WAC Honors

Denver, Colo.-----Forty-one San Jose State University student-athletes from the fall sports of football, men's and women's cross country, volleyball and women's soccer earned Academic All-Western Athletic (WAC) honors for the 2009 season.

            To qualify, a student-athlete must complete at least one academic year at the WAC school, maintain at least a 3.00 cumulative grade-point average and participate in at least 50 percent of the team's contests.

A BIG INCREASE AND ACROSS-THE-BOARD PERFORMANCE

            San Jose State showed a 41 percent increase in its number of honorees for the fall sports. The number does not include team members who are first-time freshmen or transfers who are excellent students, but need to complete the 2010 spring semester for one complete academic year.

            San Jose State was the only WAC member that had at least 10 honorees in three sports. The Spartans had the most Academic All-WAC student-athletes in women's cross country with 12. Football was in double-figures for the third year in a row with 11. There were 10 players from the WAC regular-season champion women's soccer team named Academic All-WAC.

            Of the nine conference schools, San Jose State tied with Utah State for third most with 41, right behind Fresno State's 44 and Boise State's 43. The other five WAC members had a range of 21 to 34 Academic All-WAC honorees.

SCHOLAR-ATHLETE CONSISTENCY

            Twenty-nine of the 41 student-athletes are repeat achievers of the conference's academic award.

             Cross country runners Suzanne Hancock and Nisha Richardson, football player Travis Jones, and volleyball players Thao Pham and Kristal Tsukano earned their fourth Academic All-WAC award at San Jose State.

Click on the link above for the complete list.