Michelle Carson Named First-Team Academic All-American
6/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
June 24, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State senior Michelle Carson (Winnipeg, Manitoba) was named today to the 2004 CoSIDA University Division Academic All-America Women's Cross Country/Track & Field First Team, while senior Jamie Krzyminski (Corunna, Mich.) earned second-team honors. It marks the second straight year that Carson has earned first-team accolades and Krzyminski has picked up second-team honors.
The Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, the College Sports Information Directors of America; a 2,000-member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
Carson, who holds a 3.95 GPA in dietetics, also earned Academic All-America First-Team honors in 2003. The four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree earned All-America honors after placing 12th at the 2003 NCAA Championships last November, the best-ever finish by a Spartan runner at the nationals. Carson earned All-Big Ten and All-Great Lakes Region honors as she placed second at both the Great Lakes Regional and Big Ten Championships. She won the Michigan Intercollegiate and the Spartan Invitational races this past fall.
 Michelle Carson earned CoSIDA Academic All-America First-Team honors for a second consecutive year.  | |
As a member of the track team, she won the steeplechase at the Spartan Open (April 10) and placed third at the Raleigh Relays (March 26). In addition, she was fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2004 Big Ten Outdoor Championships and 12th at the 2004 NCAA Mideast Regional. During the indoor season, she placed fifth in the 5,000-meter run at the 2004 Big Ten Indoor Championships.
Krzyminski, who carries a 3.925 grade-point average in finance, earned Academic All-America Second-Team honors in 2003. She is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree in cross country and a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree in track.
Krzyminski earned All-America honors for a third straight year after finishing third in the 10,000 meters at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She also won the 10,000 meters at the 2004 Big Ten Outdoor Championships for a second straight year. In addition, she won the 5,000 meters to become the first Spartan to win two events at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships since Sevatheda Fynes in 1997.
During the indoor season, she picked up All-America honors after finishing eighth at the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships in the 5,000 meters. She won her third Big Ten Indoor Championship title in the 5,000 in Feb. 2004.
As a member of the cross country team, she ran in all five races, including a second-place finish at the Spartan Invitational. She finished fifth at both the 2003 Big Ten Championship and Great Lakes Regional en route to earning All-Big Ten First-Team and All-Great Lakes Region honors.