LAKELAND, Fla. - The Sun Conference held the annual Cross Country Banquet prior to the Sun Conference Championship race tomorrow morning from Halloway Park at 8 a.m. At the banquet, the Sun Conference awarded the members of the All-Academic team for both the Men's and Women's teams. In addition, the Sun conference also nominated the Champion of Characters for Cross Country, where St. Thomas Women's runner, Andrea Peterson was honored with the award.

Peterson is a team captain and has a 3.90 GPA while majoring in Biology, while being named to several Dean's Lists. Peterson has conducted numerous community service efforts, which includes organizing a shoe drive on campus for those in need in Costa Rica. For this event, Cross Country team members collected athletic and dress shoes from local high school teams to be sent to Costa Rica under the direction of Andrea. She has also been a volunteer at Mount Sinai Hospital working with doctors and also volunteers at Mailman Segal Center for Human Development working with the early child care director and developing new curriculum for the educators. On campus, she is a student-athlete representative for SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee), student ambassador and peer-tutor.

Seven St. Thomas University Cross Country runners were nominated to the Academic All-Conference team, to be eligible, the recipient must be at least a sophomore that has completed two semesters at their institution with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale. The Academic All-Sun Conference members for STU are: Peterley Louis, Carolyn Galan, Mariana Morante, Calyope Ortega, Daniella Piloto, Andrea Peterson, and Sarah Bomkamp.

Men's Cross Country Academic All-Conference Team
Joseph Mullally (Ave Maria)
Caleb Selecter (Ave Maria)
Joseph Swehla (Ave Maria)
Isaiah Boyd (Keiser)
Jermaine Jones (SCAD Savannah)
Daniel Martin (Southeastern)
Peterley Louis (St. Thomas)
Richard Freeman (USCB)
William Slade (Warner)
Joel Zaila (Warner)

Women's Cross Country Academic All-Conference Team
Clare Pivarunas (Ave Maria)
Maria Graves (Ave Maria)
Mary Rexroat (Ave Maria)
Marie Mullally (Ave Maria)
Erica Christensen (Keiser)
Grace Cousins (SCAD Savannah)
Diana Gorin (SCAD Savannah)
Sarah Kiehle (SCAD Savannah)
Malia Skidmore (SCAD Savannah)
Lemi Wutz (SCAD Savannah)
Mariah Higgins (Southeastern)
Mikayla Kalapuch (Southeastern)
Sydney Kurtz (Southeastern)
Kelsi Ogilvie (Southeastern)
Raeanna Pabon (Southeastern)
Ellie Palm (Southeastern)
Macy Peterson (Southeastern)
Jenycha Rivera (Southeastern)
Kristen Robinson (Southeastern)
Skyla Seaman (Southeastern)
Carolyn Galan (St. Thomas)
Mariana Morante (St. Thomas)
Calyope Ortega (St. Thomas)
Daniella Piloto (St. Thomas)
Andrea Peterson (St. Thomas)
Sarah Bomkamp (St. Thomas)
Ciara McMahon (USCB)
Lauren Tregoning (USCB)
Kalyn Buteyn (Warner)
Koree Ream (Webber International)
Kendal Clark (Webber International)
Joyce Caba (Webber International)

-STU-