CLEVELAND, OH - Three University at Buffalo student-athletes have been named to the Mid-American Conference's 2003 men's and women's indoor track and field Academic All-MAC teams, the league has announced. UB juniors Faith Thompson (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) and Joel Beatty (Holley, NY/Holley) and senior Rick Stewart (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) were selected to the squads by a vote of the faculty athletic representatives of the member institutions that sponsor indoor track and field. Due to ties in the voting, each 15-member team was expanded, with 18 men and 19 women honored. This was also the first indoor team selected by the league after a five-year hiatus.

Faith Thompson

Thompson, a psychology major with a 3.925 GPA, finished the indoor season by twice setting school records in UB's post-season meets. At the MAC Championships in Bowling Green, OH, she finished fourth with a 20-pound weight throw of 60-4.50 (18.40m). A week later at the ECAC Championships in Boston, she bettered that mark by finishing second at 60-8.75 (18.51m) and earned a provisional qualification for the NCAA Indoor Championships. She also set the UB women's shot put record at the ECAC meet with a throw of 45-2.25 (13.77m) to place seventh overall.

Joel Beatty

Beatty, a biochemistry major with a 3.695 GPA, turned in a perfect 4.0 mark in the fall 2002 semester. The distance runner finished 13th at the MAC Championships with a season-best 8:43.59 in the 3,000-meter run. He also set top indoor times for the mile (4:27.92) at the Cornell Five-Way meet and 5,000-meter run (15:37.01) at Cornell's Kane Invitational during the regular season.

Rick Stewart

Stewart, an exercise science major with a 3.834 GPA, also earned Academic All-MAC honors during the 2002 cross country season. In the 2002-03 indoor season, Stewart finished with a school-record 8:35.44 in the 3,000-meter run at the MAC Championships, placing 10th among 21 runners and also set a season-best time of 15:03.02 in the meet's 5,000-meter race, where he placed 12th of 21.

The honor is for a student-athlete who has excelled in athletics and academics. To qualify, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport. First-year students and junior college transfers in their first year of residence are not eligible for the award. Outstanding academic and athletic accomplishments from the current season only are considered.