NEW ORLEANS-This past season, Waynesburg University women's track & field athletes
Ashley Dodd and
Elisha Jones brought national notoriety to the program when they competed at the NCAA Division III national championships in Oshkosh, Wisc.
On July 10, they added some academic honors to their stellar work in the field competitions as both were named to the United States Track & Field and Cross County Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Track and Field Team.
Along with Dodd and Jones' accomplishments, the entire WU women's track & field team was honored for their work in the class room and was given a team honor by the USTFCCA.
Dodd (Upper St. Clair, Pa./Upper St. Clair), who will be a senior in the fall, finished 2008 with a 3.87 cumulative GPA and is majoring in elementary education/special education.
Competing in the pole vault at the NCAA championships in late May, Dodd cleared a vault of 11.88 feet (3.62 meters) to place 10th in the nation. Her qualifying leap of 12.04 feet (3.67 meters) is a school record.
Jones (Russell, Pa./Eisenhower), an athletic training major who boasts a 3.83 cumulative GPA, won her first All-American award in the javelin after finishing seventh in the national championships with a toss of 138.52 feet (42.22 meters), a school record. She is entering her sophomore year at Waynesburg.
As a team, the Jacket women continued the program's history of academic excellence with a team GPA of 3.44. Of the 16 athletes on the team, 10 of them finished 2008 with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.
Dodd and Jones joined Westminster's Jessica Cooper, Abby Basta and Jill Diamond, along with Washington & Jefferson's Kelli Gee, as Presidents' Athletic Conference representatives who received individual honorees on the women's side.
The Westminster and W&J women's teams were also lauded for their academic prowess as a team. Of the three PAC squads honored, Waynesburg had the highest team GPA.
Wisconsin-La Crosse had the most overall student-athletes, men and women, on the list with 14.
To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track and Field Team, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and have met the NCAA Division III Indoor or Outdoor automatic or provisional qualifying standard in their respective event.