Feb. 21, 2005

Three members of the Wayne State University women's cross country team have earned USTCA - NCAA Division II national academic honors.

A total of 166 women representing 69 institutions earned individual honors. Named to the team from Wayne State were sophomore Jenni Culbertson (Clinton Twp., Mich./Dakota), who is majoring in business administration; junior Melissa Moncion (Washington, Mich./Romeo), who is majoring in physical therapy; and sophomore Leah Steinke (Windsor, Ont./Kennedy Collegiate Institute), who is majoring in pharmacy.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must have completed at least 24 semester or 36 quarter hours; have at least a 3.25 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) through fall 2004; have placed in the top 30 percent of the total number of athletes eligible to compete in your regional championship.

As a squad the Warriors were third in the country with a team grade-point average of 3.76. Team gpa was compiled by the cumulative average of all student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA eligibility form and and have competed in 50% of the cross country competitions must be used. Each team must have a minimum of five athletes.

"In cross country, these are very meaningful awards," said head cross country coach Rick Cummins. "Not only does an individual have to be in the top 30 percent of the runners nationally, but they have to legitimately perform in the classroom. The individual award can not be won by a freshman, which gives added meaning to this honor. Wayne State University is a very tough academic school. Having a high gpa in a quality educational environment, while being competitive with the best in the nation athletically, is a great source of pride for our program. We tell all of our recruits that it is academics first and honors like this show what our kids are about."