Four Huskers Named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans

Lincoln? Four Nebraska track and field athletes were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Teams the College Sports Information Directors of America announced on Thursday. Tia DeSoto was named to the first team, while Dana Carne and Ann Gaffigan were named to the second team and Danny Hill earned third-team honors.

 

“Academics are our number one goal for our athletes at Nebraska,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “We are very proud that these four people have pursued this goal with excellence. It’s a great honor for Tia to be named to the first team. She has been outstanding in academics as well as athletics.”

 

Nebraska now leads the nation with 217 all-time Academic All-Americans, including 109 first team members. Nebraska increased its lead over Notre Dame by three in 2003-04 with nine honorees.  NU now has a lead of 61 over Notre Dame.

 

DeSoto was the first Nebraska track and field athlete to be named to the first team since Janet Bloomstedt and Jill Myatt each earned the honor in 1997. DeSoto holds a perfect 4.0 GPA in anthropology and was named an NCAA Track Coaches Association Academic All-American in 2003. She has been named to the Big 12 Commissioners honor roll from 2002 to 2004 and was named the Pepsi Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2002 at Santa Rosa Junior College.

 

DeSoto finished fifth in the weight throw at the 2004 Big 12 Indoor Championships and sixth in the hammer throw at the outdoor conference meet. The Santa Rosa, Calif., native finished 13th in the 2004 NCAA Midwest Regional in the hammer. In 2003, DeSoto was 10th in the hammer throw at the NCAA Regional Championships and took top eight finishes at the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor Championships.

 

Carne, an Omaha, Neb., native, was named to the second team with his 3.958 grade-point average in biological sciences. The Omaha North graduate has been named to the Academic All-Big 12 Team in 2002 and 2003 and is a five-time honoree on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll. He served as the Vice-President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Board in 2003-04 and was a member of the NU Mortar Board from 2002 to 2004. Carne graduated with a degree in biological sciences in May.

 

On the track, Carne finished fourth in the 5,000 meters at the 2004 Big 12 Outdoor Championships and 12th in the 1,500 meters in Norman, Okla. He also took second in the 800 meters at the Emporia State Relays and won the Nebraska Wesleyan Twilight in the 1,500. He also won silver in the 1,500 meters at the Nebraska Quadrangular and was third at the K.T. Woodman Classic. In cross country, Carne opened the 2003 season with a win at the Creighton/UNO Invitational in 27:33.82 over an 8K course. A week later, he finished 10th in the Woody Greeno in Lincoln.

 

Gaffigan was named the 2004 Nebraska Student-Athlete of the Year after a stellar year on the track as well as in cross country. Gaffigan graduated in May, boasting an impressive 3.856 GPA in computer science with a minor in mathematics. In the classroom, Gaffigan has been named to the Academic All-Big 12 Team from 2001 to 2003 and was named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s honor roll for nine semesters. She has been named a Cross Country Association Academic All-American from 2001 to 2003.

 

The Springfield, Ill., native put together two tremendous performances at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships, finishing second in the preliminaries of the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:12.46 and came back two days later to finish fifth with a school-record time of 9:59.75 for her first career All-America honors.

 

Gaffigan won the 2004 Big 12 Championship in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a then-school record time of 10:17.92. She also won the NCAA Midwest Regional to automatically qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She served as a track and field team captain in 2003-04.

 

Hill, an Omaha Westside graduate, was named to the third team with his 3.794 grade-point average in finance. He made the academic All-Big 12 First Team from 2002 to 2004 and was a nine-time honoree on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll. Hill was a member of the 2003 NCAA Division I Track Coaches Association All-Academic Team and made the Chancellor’s Honors Convocation and College of Business Dean’ List from 2000 to 2004.

 

Hill finished his NU career on the track at the NCAA Midwest Regional in College Station, Texas, where he finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 51.55 and ran on the fourth-place 4x400-meter relay team. Hill earned 33.25 career points in Big 12 meets throughout his career and won bronze in the 400 hurdles at the 2004 Big 12 Outdoor Championships. He also ran as a leg on the Husker 1,600-meter relay that won silver both indoors and outdoors at the 2004 conference meets and qualified for the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships, where they finished ninth.