Track Lands Four on Academic All-District Team
6/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
June 2, 2011
WACO, Texas - Juniors James Gilreath and Jessica Ubanyionwu each earned Capital One Academic All-District VI First Team honors to lead a Baylor track and field contingent of four selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. The accolades recognize the top student-athletes for their combined performance both athletically and academically.
Along with earning first-team honors, Gilreath and Ubanyionwu advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.
Also for the Baylor women, junior Diamond Richardson and senior Brittany Bruce were selected to the District VI Second Team for their performances this season. Richardson also becomes the only second-time honoree, also being named to the second team last season.
Gilreath, the lone honoree for the Baylor men, is an accounting major from Bartlett, Tenn., with a 3.46 grade-point average. On the track, Gilreath earned a second consecutive berth to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on the 4x400-meter relay team that has the second-fastest time in the nation this season. Individually, Gilreath was Baylor's top 800-meter runner, earning all-Big 12 honors with a third-place finish at the conference outdoor championships.
Ubanyionwu, a health science studies major with an emphasis in pre-medicine, hails from El Paso, Texas, and carries a 3.96 gpa. This season, the All-American earned her second straight trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds. Ubanyionwu finished third overall at the conference meet with a career-best of 44-1.25, the sixth-best mark in the NCAA this year.
Richardson, who carries a 3.92 gpa in business journalism, is a native of DeSoto, Texas. A key member of the women's 4x400-meter relay team that won a Drake Relays title and earned a berth to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Richardson also earned all-Big 12 honors in the 400 meters.
Bruce, also a health science studies major with a pre-medicine emphasis, is from Lee's Summit, Mo., and carries a 3.60 gpa. Bruce helped Baylor earn a NCAA berth in both the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays. The senior was a member of the relay teams that won two Drake Relays titles and placed in the top three at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
Baylor will be back in action with 13 entries at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa. The national championships will be hosted by Drake University at Drake Stadium.
Players Mentioned
