Six Hokies earn Academic All-ACC honors for cross country

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Six members of the Virginia Tech cross country team have been named Academic All-Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2011 season, Commissioner John Swofford announced Tuesday. The honorees include redshirt sophomore Jared Berman, junior Jason Cusack, redshirt junior Michael Hammond and redshirt junior Will Mulherin from the men’s team and sophomore Courtney Dobbs and senior Sammy Dow from the women’s team. Cusack and Dow are repeat award winners from last year’s Academic All-ACC cross country team, while Hammond also garnered the honor as a freshman.

“I’m very proud of these six individuals who earned recognition on the All-ACC Academic cross country team,” said Tech head cross country and distance coach Ben Thomas. “Distance runners are unique in that they are student-athletes who have three competitive seasons from cross country to indoor and outdoor track during the academic year. So for these individuals to achieve what they did athletically, while maintaining a high academic standard is something to be proud of.”

Berman is a native of Fairfax, Va., who is majoring in civil and environmental engineering. He competed in five meets on the season and placed fourth on the team and 49th overall at the NCAA Southeast Regional Meet, running a career-best 10k of 31:26.6. He also finished 42nd at the ACC Championship Meet running a career-best 8k of 24:33.0.

Cusack, an industrial design major, competed in five meets on the season and helped the Hokies to the team title at the Charlotte Invitational by placing sixth overall in 24:33.6. The Griswold, Conn., native finished 34th at the ACC Championship Meet in a career-best 8k of 24:23.8 and was 80th at the NCAA Southeast Regional Meet in a career-best 10k of 32:10.4.

Dobbs helped the Hokies to the team title at the Charlotte Invitational by running a season-best 5k of 17:45.0, good for an 18th place finish. She placed 37th at the ACC Championships in a career-best 6k of 21:19.8 and was second on the team and 39th overall at the NCAA Southeast Regional (21:25.3). Dobbs is an accounting major from Glen Allen, Va.

Dow, a Midlothian, Va., native, finished second on the team and 34th overall at the ACC Championship Meet in a career-best 6k of 21:16.8. She was 42nd at the NCAA Southeast Regional (21:31.7), good for third on the team and ran a season-best 5k at the Charlotte Invitational of 17:51.9. Dow is a double major in biology and human nutrition, foods and exercise.

Hammond is an economics major from Midlothian, Va. He earned All-Region honors by finishing 19th in a career-best 10k of 30:43.3 at the NCAA Southeast Regional Meet. Hammond also finished 10th at the ACC Championship Meet in a career-best 8k of 23:45.0 to earn All-ACC honors for the first time in cross country. He was named the ACC Men’s Cross Country Co-Performer of the Week on Oct. 4 after leading Tech to the team title at the Charlotte Invite with a fourth place overall finish in the 8k (24:28.0).

Mulherin had an outstanding season as he earned first career All-America honor in cross country with a 30th place finish at the NCAA Championship Meet, finishing in a career-best cross country 10k time of 29:58.1. The Yorktown, Va., native became Tech’s ninth cross country All-American and fifth male to earn All-America in cross. He also finished fifth at the NCAA Southeast Regional Meet (29:59.9), earning All-Region honors and seventh overall in a career-best 8k of 23:19.3 to earn his second career All-ACC honor at the ACC Championship Meet. He is a mechanical engineering major.

To be eligible for consideration for the All-ACC Academic team, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.0 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.0 cumulative average during their academic career.