FRISCO - Meagan Daniel, Erin McMillan, Connie Picard and DeeDee Strickland were named to the Southland Conference’s All-Academic first team, the league office announced on Wednesday. With their selections, 11 Roadrunners now have earned SLC All-Academic honors during Laura Neugebauer-Groff’s five years as head coach.
Daniel, who maintains a 3.62 grade-point average (gpa) in psychology, earned first-team accolades for the third year in a row. The 2005 SLC Student-Athlete of the Year was a second-team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI selection last month. She was a three-time first-team All-SLC choice (2003-05), third-team honoree this past year and the 2003 SLC Freshman of the Year. This past season, the Hereford native ranked sixth in the league with 3.81 kills per game and recorded double-figure kills in 24 of 27 matches played. Daniel ended her career among the top five on UTSA’s all-time charts for attacks (first/5,159), kills (second/1,808), service aces (third/144) and digs (fifth/1,433).
McMillan, who maintains a 3.06 gpa in English, capped her outstanding final season by earning all-academic honors for the first time. The San Antonio native was a third-team All-SLC selection this past season and finished the campaign with five consecutive 30-dig performances and 11 such efforts overall. She set UTSA’s single match (42), single season (734) and career (2,279) records in 2006 and owns four of the top seven single-season dig totals in school history. McMillan’s career total ranks also among the top 10 in NCAA history.
Picard, who maintains a 3.25 gpa in kinesiology, earned all-academic accolades for the first time as well. The 2006 first-team All-SLC performer led the conference with a UTSA-record .354 hitting percentage this past season and also ranked second in the league with 29 solo blocks and fifth in total blocks per game (1.14). The Spring native ended her career in second place on UTSA’s all-time charts with 457 total blocks, 94 solo blocks and 363 block assists and also ranked third with a .285 hitting percentage and fifth with 1,396 kills. Picard missed just one match during her career and played in 458 all-time games, which ranks seventh on the UTSA’s all-time list
DeeDee Strickland, who maintains a 3.88 gpa in finance, collected all-academic honors for the third consecutive season. The League City native also was a two-time CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI selection during her career. A four-time all-conference honoree, she owns four of the top nine single-season assist totals in school history and ranks second on UTSA’s career assists chart (5,407). Strickland, who did not miss a match during her career, also stands ninth on the school’s all-time digs list (1,258).
