LAKELAND, Fla. ---The Sun Conference recognized the Cross Country Champions of Character recipients and Academic All-Conference honorees at the annual banquet on Friday night. The runners will compete in the 2018 Sun Conference Championship tomorrow at Holloway Park in Lakeland.
 
SCAD's Jermaine Jones made the Men's Academic All-Conference Team while Grace Cousins, Diana Gorin , Sarah Kiehle, Malia Skidmore and Lemi Wutz made the Women's Team.
 
Warner's Christopher Beck was named the men's cross country Champions of Character award winner while St. Thomas' Andrea Peterson earned the away on the women's side.
 
A senior of the team, Beck does his best to make sure that the guys are not only on the right pace for the workouts, but for their life. He is constantly on top of them to make sure they get the grades they need to and to make great life choices. 
 
Not only is he an asset to the cross country team, but he is a big asset to the football team. Christopher works over 20 hours a week with the Warner football team on the equipment staff. In addition to football and his part-time job at Publix, Christopher also does the volunteer hours with the rest of the team in the local high school races. 
 
Andrea Peterson is this year's women's cross country Champions of Character award winner. Andrea is a team captain and has a 3.90 GPA while majoring in Biology. She is a multi-year member of the St. Thomas Dean Lists. 
 
Andrea has conducted numerous community service efforts including organizing a shoe drive on campus for those in need in Coast Rica. For this event, team members collected athletic and dress shoes from local high school teams to be sent to Costa Rica under the direction of Andrea. 
 
She has also been a volunteer at Mt. Sani Hospital working with doctors and also volunteers at Mailman Segal Center for Human Development working with the early child care director and developing new curriculum for educators. On the STU campus, she is a Student athlete representative for SAAC, student ambassador and tutor.
 
This season, ten men's runners and 32 women's runners received Academic All-Conference recognition. To be eligible, the recipient must be at least a sophomore that has completed two semesters at their institution with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
 
Men's Cross Country Academic All-Conference Team
Joseph Mullally (Ave Maria)
Caleb Selecter (Ave Maria)
Joseph Swehla (Ave Maria)
Isaiah Boyd (Keiser)
Jermaine Jones (SCAD Savannah)
Daniel Martin (Southeastern)
Peterley Louis (St. Thomas)
Richard Freeman (USCB)
William Slade (Warner)
Joel Zaila (Warner)
 
Women's Cross Country Academic All-Conference Team
Clare Pivarunas (Ave Maria)
Maria Graves (Ave Maria)
Mary Rexroat (Ave Maria)
Marie Mullally (Ave Maria)
Erica Christensen (Keiser)
Grace Cousins (SCAD Savannah)
Diana Gorin (SCAD Savannah)
Sarah Kiehle (SCAD Savannah)
Malia Skidmore (SCAD Savannah)
Lemi Wutz (SCAD Savannah)
Mariah Higgins (Southeastern)
Mikayla Kalapuch (Southeastern)
Sydney Kurtz (Southeastern)
Kelsi Ogilvie (Southeastern)
Raeanna Pabon (Southeastern)
Ellie Palm (Southeastern)
Macy Peterson (Southeastern)
Jenycha Rivera (Southeastern)
Kristen Robinson (Southeastern)
Skyla Seaman (Southeastern)
Carolyn Galan (St. Thomas)
Mariana Morante (St. Thomas)
Calyope Ortega (St. Thomas)
Daniella Piloto (St. Thomas)
Andrea Peterson (St. Thomas)
Sarah Bomkamp (St. Thomas)
Ciara McMahon (USCB)
Lauren Tregoning (USCB)
Kalyn Buteyn (Warner)
Koree Ream (Webber International)
Kendal Clark (Webber International)
Joyce Caba (Webber International)