SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Three Southern Conference track and field/cross country athletes were named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, as announced by the organization on Thursday. Furman's Savannah Carnahan was named to the Second Team while Chattanooga's Abby Bateman and Wofford's William Stout were Third Team honorees.
A senior from Cumming, Ga., Carnahan recently graduated magna cum laude with a 3.93 grade point average. A double major in applied mathematics and chemistry, she has received a full fellowship to attend Princeton to pursue a PhD in chemistry.
“Savannah continues to be a great representation of what it means to be a Furman track and cross country student-athlete,” said Paladin head coach Robert Gary. “This program will be forever grateful for all of the incredible marks she has left here academically, athletically, and through her friendships. I can’t wait to witness her future accomplishments.”
Only the third Paladin women’s track/cross country member to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America accolades, Carnahan is the first since Allie Buchalski in 2017.
Carnahan, who was honored with the Hall of Leaders Award for Excellence in Service and Leadership, earned her second-consecutive All-American citation for cross country after placing 13th with a time of 20:25.1 at the 2019 NCAA Championships. She helped the Paladins to their seventh-straight SoCon cross country title in 2019. Carnahan holds the Furman 10,000m outdoor record of 33:35.11 and was honored as a second-team All-American in the 5,000m during the 2018 outdoor season after turning in a 15th place national finish.
The 2020 SoCon Women's Indoor Track Most Outstanding Performer, Carnahan became the first women's runner in SoCon indoor history to win the 5,000m run in four straight years (16:38.38) and added second-place finishes in the 3,000m run (9:31.31) and the mile (4:52.54).
Bateman, a two-time Academic All-American, is one of 11 repeats on the team. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in May with 4.0 grade point average in Marketing. Of the 47 members of the women's team, she was one of 17 to carry a 4.0 GPA.
"It's a great honor for Abby, her family, the athletics department and, of course, UTC," Chattanooga head coach Andy Meyer said. "To be named one of the very brightest of the most athletically gifted in Division I is truly a blessing and to do it twice is commendable. She is one of our hardest working athletes. She carries that same motivation, dedication and commitment into the classroom."
Bateman was named to the SoCon Fall All-Academic Team as a member of the cross country team and then earned a spot on the SoCon Spring All-Academic Team as a member of the indoor and outdoor track and field teams. She was named to the league's Academic Honor Roll and is a recipient of the SoCon Commissioner's Medal for Academics. At UTC she has been a mainstay on the Dean's List and Athletics Director's Honor Roll.
As a middle distance runner on the women's track and field teams, she is an all-conference performer on the Distance Medley Relay team and helped the Mocs to a runner-up finish at the 2018 SoCon Cross Country Championships.
She set personal records this season in two distances for cross country including the 6-kilometer at the Berry Invitational. In the indoor track season, she improved on her 800 meter time at the Samford Bulldog Open in February, flirting with the school record.
Stout, a senior from Nashville, Tennessee, earned a spot on the Academic All-America third team. He is the first Wofford student-athlete to receive Academic All-America honors since the 2017-18 academic year (Katie Beuerlein, women's soccer). The last men's track honoree was Justin Whitaker in the 2014-15 academic year. Stout is just the 20th Terrier to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-America since 1990. He was the only student-athlete from the Southern Conference to be honored on the men's track/cross country team this year.
"I could not feel more honored and blessed to be selected for this designation," said Stout. "The Lord has shown me abundant favor in my athletic, academic, and social endeavors throughout my time at Wofford. I will be forever grateful for the friends, teammates, professors, and coaches that made my college experience what is was."
He took second place in the heptathlon at the 2020 Southern Conference Indoor Championships. He was third in the decathlon at the 2019 Southern Conference Outdoor Championships. He was also third in the heptathlon at the 2019 Southern Conference Indoor Championship. He has been named All-Southern Conference six times. Stout also holds the school record in the outdoor pole vault.
"William is a great competitor and an outstanding student," said head cross country and track coach Johnny Bomar. "He exemplifies the type of student-athlete that we have here at Wofford."
A biology major with a 3.98 grade point average, Stout is a member-elect of Phi Beta Kappa and will attend medical school at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center this fall. He also is the recipient of a Southern Conference Graduate Scholarship.
Furman release:https://furmanpaladins.com/news/2020/6/25/cross-country-track-field-carnahan-garners-cosida-academic-all-america-honors.aspx
Chattanooga release: https://gomocs.com/news/2020/6/25/cross-country-track-field-bateman-named-academic-all-american.aspx
Wofford release: https://woffordterriers.com/news/2020/6/25/mens-track-field-william-stout-named-cosida-academic-all-america.aspx
CoSIDA release: https://academicallamerica.com/news/2020/6/25/2019-20-academic-all-america-ncaa-division-i-womens-track-field-cross-country-teams-announced.aspx