May 7, 2009
Complete List Of Academic All-District Teams
RALEIGH, N.C. Georgia Tech seniors Whitney Haller and Blair Shimandle have been named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-District III teams, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Thursday morning.
Haller earns first-team honors for the third straight season and will now appear on the national ballot to be eligible for Academic All-America accolades. Haller joins former teammate and current assistant coach Aileen Morales as the only three-time All-District selections in school history. She is a two-time Academic All-American as well, earning second-team honors in 2007 as well as third-team in 2008. This marks the second straight season Shimandle has been a second-team All-District pick.
Haller has a 3.94 cumulative GPA and graduated last weekend with a degree in Industrial Engineering. The Marietta, Ga., native ranks fourth in the league in batting (.390), tied for third in hits (60), 10th in runs (34), tied for third in home runs (11), tied for seventh in doubles (9), first in RBI (51), second in total bases (104), sixth in on-base percentage (.463) and fifth in slugging percentage (.675).
Shimandle has maintained a 3.66 GPA and also graduated last week with a degree in International Affairs. She has batted over .300 in each of her first three seasons at Tech and heads into postseason with a .311 average this year. She is 10th in the league in hits (51), sixth in runs scored (38), tied for fourth in stolen bases (21) and has not made an error in over two years now. Her streak of 141 straight errorless games is a school record and she has made highlight reel grabs in the outfield throughout her career. This year, she also has a couple of doubles and 20 RBI. The LaGrange, Ga., native was named ACC Player of the Week last month after batting 10-for-11 in a weekend series at Virginia.
The Yellow Jackets will be the No. 1 seed in the single-elimination ACC Tournament which begins Friday, May 8, in Raleigh, N.C. on the campus of NC State University. Georgia Tech will play eighth-seeded Virginia in the first round at 5 p.m. and the winner of that game advances to the second semifinal game on Saturday, May 9, at 3:30 p.m. Tech swept the Cavaliers a couple of weeks ago in Charlottesville, Va.
The 2009 ACC Championship game is set for Sunday, May 10, at 1 p.m. and will be televised live on the Regional Sports Networks. ACC Select will provide free streaming video for every game the first two days of the tournament, while live audio and stats for all Georgia Tech games are available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
