David Busby selected as an Academic All-American

2017 Jun 21

Recent SUNY Oneonta graduate David Busby of New Paltz was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Division III Track & Field/Cross Country Team.

After earning National Third Team honors last spring, Busby earned First Team honors this year after being selected to the District 3 First Team for a third consecutive year. Busby becomes only the fourth individual to earn First Team honors and 14th individual overall at the College to be honored nationally. He also becomes the eighth track & field student athlete to receive accolades.

Busby, an Environmental Science major, was a four-year member of the cross country and track & field teams. A SUNY Oneonta Presidential Scholarship recipient, Busby earned numerous academic accolades during his career as a student athlete. Notable was his becoming the first Oneonta male runner to be recognized as a National Scholar Athlete by the USTFCCCA all four years in the sport of cross country.

Athletically, Busby enjoyed much success as a top-7 runner on the cross country team. This past fall, he was an All-SUNYAC and All-Region runner as he helped lead the men's program to its first appearance in the NCAA Division III championships.

Busby was also the recipient this spring of the SUNY Chancellor's Scholar Athletic Award in the sport of cross country.

About the Academic All-America Program

To be eligible for nomination at the district level, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.

A student athlete is eligible for the national ballot only if he/she is named to the first team in one of the eight CoSIDA districts. Only members of the Academic All-America Committee, the CoSIDA Board of Directors and past presidents are eligible to vote on the national ballot, which amounts to just over 100 voters.

The Division III Academic All-America program is supported financially by the NCAA Division III national governance structure. The funding assists CoSIDA with the handling of the awards fulfillment aspects for all the DIII Academic All-America team programs.

This is the fifth year of the expanded Academic All-America program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-America Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.