ORU Lands Four On Southland Academic Teams

Junior defender Leah Bickers highlights the Oral Roberts representation on the Southland Conference All-Academic teams as the league honored the top student-athletes on Wednesday.

Joining Bickers on the first team squad was senior Lauren Parks and junior Jennifer Abernathy, while sophomore Megan Giles picked up a second team nod.

This was Bickers second academic award of the season, being named to the Capitol One CoSIDA Academic All-District 7 Second Team. The Tulsa native was among the conference's best in grade point average at 3.93, while majoring in marketing. She started each of the Golden Eagles' 21 matches in 2012, recording an assist in a 2-0 victory over Rogers State.

Playing alongside Bickers on the back line was Parks. Also named First Team All-Southland, the nursing major head a 3.51 GPA, while scoring two goals and picking up two assists in 20 matches. Parks was named the conference defensive player of the week twice.

A nominee for the Southland Conference Student-Athlete of the Year award and First Team All-Southland honoree, Abernathy was a two time conference offensive player of the week, putting in four goals and assisting on five others. The Broken Arrow native had an outstanding 3.76 GPA and is majoring in health exercise science.

Kylie Louw of Stephen F. Austin was named the student-athlete of the year.

Giles rounds out the academic award winners with a selection to the second team. With a 3.16 GPA, the sophomore led the Golden Eagles with seven assists while scoring three goals, each of which were game winners.

As a team, the Golden Eagle squad was honored by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in late November with the team academic award with an average of 3.27 GPA.

Via conference guidelines, "the all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators. Each student-athlete must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the all-academic squad."

Automatic selections were awarded to players that were first team all-conference selections or CoSIDA Academic All-District teams as long as they meet the conference academic guidelines.

2012 Southland Conference All-Academic Teams

First Team

Name School Position Class GPA Major

Maiya Cooper* Southeastern La. Forward Senior 3.08 Marketing
Sarah LaLanne McNeese State Forward Sophomore 4.00 Accounting
Tricia Mallory Sam Houston State Forward Junior 3.93 Accounting
Kylie Louw* Stephen F. Austin Midfielder Senior 3.97 Kinesiology
Laura Sadler* Stephen F. Austin Midfielder Senior 3.31 Radio and TV Comm.
Theresa Halle* Northwestern State Midfielder Senior 3.94 Biology/Pre-Dentistry
Jennifer Abernathy* Oral Roberts Midfielder Junior 3.76 Health Exercise Science
Leah Bickers* Oral Roberts Defender Junior 3.93 Marketing
Lauren Parks* Oral Roberts Defender Senior 3.51 Nursing
Megan Dunningan* Stephen F. Austin Defender Sophomore 4.00 Biology
Breanne Vernon* Stephen F. Austin Defender Senior 3.46 Radio and TV Comm.
Lacy Lee* Stephen F. Austin Goalkeeper Junior 3.03 Biology
Kristin Bos^ Lamar Midfielder Sophomore 3.61 Family and Consumer Science

Second Team
Lorna Maudslay Lamar Forward Senior 3.62 Physical Therapy
Elizabeth Brady Central Arkansas Forward Senior 3.70 Kinesiology
Megan Giles Oral Roberts Forward Sophomore 3.16 Exploratory
Karly Dagys Southeastern La. Midfielder Senior 3.66 Biology
Kristy Tatom Nicholls State Midfielder Sophomore 4.00 Nursing
Jennifer Torry Lamar Defender Senior 4.00 English
Amber Thornhill Lamar Defender Junior 3.75 Accounting
Bailey Fontenot Lamar Goalkeeper Sophomore 3.66 Nursing
Emma Reed^ Central Arkansas Defender Junior 3.90 Finance