June 27, 2014
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Seniors Alysha Rudnik and Hayley Downs of the Georgia Tech softball team were named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Team, the ACC announced Friday.
To be eligible for consideration for the All-ACC Academic Team, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.00 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during her academic career.
Rudnik earned the recognition all four years of her career and maintained a 3.35 GPA during the season and an overall GPA of 3.56 in business administration. Rudnik, who was one of 10 national finalists for the 2014 Senior CLASS Award, was selected as a second-team All-American and earned a 2014 ACC Postgraduate Scholarship.
It marks the third appearance on the team for Downs, who maintained a 3.5 GPA during the season and a 3.17 cumulative GPA in business administration. Downs tied for the ACC lead in sacrifice bunts with 15 – seventh-most per game in the NCAA in 2014, and helped Tech lead the ACC in stolen bases per game, swiping 20 on 21 attempts.
Each of the ACC’s 11 schools that support softball is represented on this year’s All-ACC Academic Team, led by Virginia Tech with six representatives. Florida State, which represented the ACC at the 2014 Women’s College World Series, had four honorees, followed by Boston College, North Carolina, NC State and Notre Dame with three each. Georgia Tech, Syracuse and Virginia had two representatives apiece, while Maryland and Pitt rounded out the field with one each.
Four student-athletes, Florida State’s Jessica Nori, Georgia Tech’s Alysha Rudnik, Virginia Tech’s Dani Anderson and Speer, were named to the All-ACC Academic Team for the fourth time. A total of nine student-athletes were recognized for the third time.
2014 ACC Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year:Tory Speer, Boston College
2014 All-ACC Academic Softball Team
Megan Cooley (2) So. Boston College Economics & Political Science
Nicole D’Argento Gr. Boston College Administrative Studies
Tory Speer (4) Sr. Boston College Communications
Kelly Hensley (3) Sr. Florida State Exercise Science
Jessica Nori (4) Sr. Florida State Business-Entrepreneurship, Professional Sales & Marketing
Bailey Schinella (3) Jr. Florida State Business-Accounting
Lacey Waldrop Jr. Florida State Editing, Writing & Media
Hayley Downs (3) Sr. Georgia Tech Business Administration
Alysha Rudnik (4) Sr. Georgia Tech Business Administration
Shannon Bustillos (3) Jr. Maryland Criminology & Criminal Justice
Kristen Brown So. North Carolina Exercise and Sport Science
Jenna Kelly (2) So. North Carolina Biology
Lori Spingola (2) Sr. North Carolina Journalism – Public Relations
Kirsten Grant (3) Sr. NC State Biological Sciences
Lana Van Dyken So. NC State Biological Sciences
Emily Weiman (3) Jr. NC State Sport Management
Katey Haus Jr. Notre Dame Management Consulting
Jenna Simon Jr. Notre Dame IT Management
Cassidy Whidden Jr. Notre Dame Film, Television and Theatre/History
Carly Thea Jr. Pitt Communications
Shirley Daniels Sr. Syracuse Supply Chain Management
Julie Wambold Jr. Syracuse Child & Family Studies
Marcy Bowdren (3) Sr. Virginia Elementary Education
Stephanie Harris (2) Sr. Virginia Nursing
Dani Anderson (4) Sr. Virginia Tech Human Nutrition, Foods & Exercise
Vanessa Gonzalez Fr. Virginia Tech Human Development
Kelly Heinz So. Virginia Tech Management
Kylie McGoldrick (3) Jr. Virginia Tech Marketing
Katey Smith So. Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering
Maggie Tyler So. Virginia Tech Communications
**Numbers in parentheses indicate times selected during career**
