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Faith Thompson

BUFFALO, NY - University at Buffalo track and field standout Faith Thompson (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) has been named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Women's Cross Country/Track and Field Team, as announced today by CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America).

Thompson was one of 15 student-athletes chosen to the first team, and she is the first-ever female Academic All-American in UB's history. Thompson is UB's second Academic All-American selection in 2004-05 and the third Academic All-American selection in UB's Division I history. Men's basketball player Turner Battle (Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth) earned Academic All-America Second Team honors this past March, and former football player Dan Poulsen was an Academic All-American in 1998.

Thompson ended her outstanding collegiate career with a 15th-place finish in the hammer throw at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 9. She qualified for her first national championship appearance after finishing third at the NCAA East Regional meet with a school-record toss of 199-6 (60.80). Thompson holds three other school records - the indoor shot put (48-9/15.16m), the indoor 20-lb. weight throw (65-6.75/19.98m) and the outdoor shot put (50-9.25/15.47m) - and she was a two-time Mid-American Conference champion (2005 indoor weight throw and outdoor hammer).

Thompson had a 3.973 grade point average as an undergraduate while earning a degree in psychology, and she has a perfect 4.0 GPA in her first year working towards a master's degree in school counseling. She was the recipient of the 2004-05 SUNY Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Award for women's track and field and an Academic All-MAC selection in both indoor and outdoor track. Thompson was a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-District I honoree, earning first-team honors in 2002-03 and 2004-05 and second-team honors in 2001-02. She advanced to this year's national ballot after being named to the Academic All-District I First Team earlier in June, along with teammate Jenny Koeppel (Amherst, NY/Amherst).