Nov. 17, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. - Junior Kevin Johnson and redshirt junior Shiyi Zan were each named to the Atlantic 10 Cross Country Academic All-Conference Team Tuesday afternoon. Johnson and Zan were selected to the team by the A-10 Conference's sports information directors. The voting process was based on academic achievement and athletic merit.

Johnson, a food science major, currently holds a 4.00 GPA for his entire career at UMass. He has had an extremely successful cross country season thus far, finishing in the top five for the Minutemen at four out of the team's seven meets. At last week's NCAA Regional Qualifier, Johnson led the team with a time of 32:47 and a 43rd place finish out of 244 total runners.

Over her four years at UMass, co-captain Shiyi Zan has held a 3.944 GPA. Zan is currently a kinesiology major and was named the A-10 Conference Student Athlete of the Year in 2008. This year she has been one of the Minutewomen's best runners. Last week at the NCAA Regionals, Zan took 96th place out of 243 runners with a time of 24:22.

Both the men and women will be racing in New York, N.Y. this Saturday, Nov. 21. The men will be competing in the IC4A Championships while the women will take part in the ECAC Championships.