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Four Phoenix College Athletic Teams Receive National Honor for Academics

by: Christy Skeen

The National Junior College Athletic Association recently named four Phoenix College athletic teams Academic All-Americans and three as Academic Teams-of-the-Year for Fall semester.

Teams receiving a 3.0 GPA or higher are eligible to be nominated as an Academic All-American Teams; however, teams with the highest GPA in the nation for each sport are named NJCAA Academic Teams-of-the-Year.

The teams receiving national recognition include: Women’s Cross Country (3.16 GPA), Men’s Soccer (3.07 GPA), Women’s Soccer (3.53 GPA) and Volleyball (3.74 GPA). Of the four teams honored, Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer and Volleyball had the highest overall GPA in Division II sports.

"This is a tremendous achievement," said Head Women’s Soccer Coach, Morgan Lee. "To be labeled as the 2002 NJCAA Women’s Soccer Academic Team-of-the-Year on a national level is an incredible honor. I am so proud of these young ladies. They definitely deserve it! We do so much talking to so many current and prospective student-athletes about how school always comes first and how important it is that these athletes go to class and graduate. It is no longer just talk or words that are said, we are now proving it on a national scale."

Many of the coaches at Phoenix College see this honor as winning the national championship for academics.

"Each year our volleyball team sets a number of goals before the season starts and each year, being named the NJCAA Academic Team-of-the-Year is one of our goals," said Head Volleyball Coach and Athletic Academic Advisor, Patrick Mooney. "This is the second time we’ve won this award in the past three years and we are extremely proud of our accomplishment. Our department’s philosophy of emphasizing the academic side of the term ‘student athlete’ is even further validated with four of our teams being named Academic All-American Teams and three of them being awarded the honor of Academic Team-of-the-Year."

"PC athletics strives to encourage an environment where student-athletes strive for excellence in all aspects of their lives not just winning and loosing on the field, said Men's Athletic Director, Scott Geddis. "The entire Phoenix College campus faculty, staff and coaches are dedicated to this definition of success. These awards represent the result of that dedication."