MEN'S AND WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD QUARTET NAMED TO AE ALL-ACADEMIC SQUAD

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Senior Paul DeTurk (Durham, N.H.) of the University of New Hampshire men's outdoor track & field team, as well as senior Rita Ciambra (Hanover, N.H.) and juniors Kaitlyn Dugan (Hatfield, Pa.) and Megan Donohue (Stratham, N.H.) of the women's squad, were named to the America East All-Academic Team, the conference announced Tuesday afternoon.
    DeTurk, who was also a member of this past season's indoor All-Academic Team, is a political science major with a 3.66 GPA. He captured the America East title in the hammer throw with an IC4A-qualifying toss of 61.97m. DeTurk also placed second in the hammer at New England's with a throw of 57.26m and finished 12th in the hammer at IC4A's with a mark of 56.83m.
    Ciambra, a biology major with a 3.72 GPA, submitted another superb year in the pole vault. She collected her second conference outdoor pole vault title this season with an America East-record and ECAC-qualifying leap of 4.01m. Ciambra, who also owns the indoor conference championship record, won her first New England title after clearing a height of 3.85m. She completed a sweep of the three major end-of-the-year championship meets by winning her first ECAC title in the pole vault with a mark of 4.05m.
    Dugan, a chemistry major with a near-perfect 3.98 GPA, was the heptathlon runner-up at the America East Championships with an ECAC-qualifying point total of 4,547. She was also fifth in the high jump with a mark of 1.58m at the conference championships. Earlier in the season she placed second in the high jump at New England's, clearing a height of 1.65m, and finishing 10th in the heptathlon at ECAC's after compiling 4,393 points.
    Donohue, a double major in math education: secondary and Spanish with a 3.93 GPA, placed third in the 400-meter hurdles at the America East Championships in a time of 1:02.34, while also finishing fifth in the long jump with a leap of 5.50m. Donohue was part of the fourth-place 4x400 squad that finished in an ECAC-qualifying time of 3:51.06, as well as the 4x100 team that was fifth in 48.45. In addition, she placed fourth in the 400-meter hurdles at New England's in a time of 1:03.26.
    The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Directors meeting where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference's nine member institutions decided to honor the league's top student-athletes, who excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field.
    For the second straight year, America East will select the All-Academic teams using CoSIDA's Academic All-America program as a model. Student-athletes worthy of consideration are nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by a committee of SIDs, academic advisers and faculty representatives from all nine member institutions.
    All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time (e.g., 10 on the field for men's lacrosse) but can be more if there is a tie in voting. To be nominated for the distinction, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team's games or competitions. In the classroom, student-athletes must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshmen are not eligible for consideration.