Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. - Four Virginia Tech track and field/cross country student-athletes earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Three honors for outstanding work in the classroom, the organization announced Thursday. Senior sprinter Sherlenia Green got a first-team bid, while Tasmin Fanning, Kelly Phillips and Matej Muza were named to the second team.
Green, a Vernon Hills, Ill., native majoring in sociology, earned All-America recognition in 2007 as a member of Tech's indoor distance medley relay and then won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in the 400-meter hurdles at the outdoor championships. Green has also qualified for the upcoming NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 400-meter hurdles, 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays.
Fanning, a junior from Charlottesville, Va., is a human nutrition, foods and exercise major and communication minor, who finished 12th in last fall's NCAA Cross Country Championships to become the Hokies' third women's cross country All-American in school history and first since 2003. Fanning completed the 6k race in 21:55, and was also named to the 2007 USTFCCCA All-Academic team. Fanning is set to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 5,000-meter run.
Phillips, a redshirt freshman from Blacksburg, Va., won the ACC's Indoor Pole Vault title and qualified for this season's NCAA Indoor Championships. Phillips finished fifth at the outdoor conference meet, before earning runner-up honors at the NCAA East Regional last weekend.
Muza, a native of Zagreb, Croatia, recently earned runner-up honors in the men's hammer throw with an effort of 217'5" (66.28m) at the NCAA East Regional Championships and qualify for the national meet. The junior is studying geography and has earned All-ACC honors in the hammer throw for the past two seasons.
Green will now advance to the national ballot and have a chance to earn Academic All-America honors.