Cooper Repeats as Capital One Academic All-American

Tusculum College junior David Cooper has been named to the 2013-14 Capital One Division II Academic All-America® Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field first team as selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Cooper garners Academic All-America® honors in consecutive seasons, earning second team distinction last year. Cooper, a native of Greeneville, Tennessee, boasts a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average while majoring in biology.

He becomes the eighth Tusculum student-athlete to earn Academic All-America® honors on two or more occasions in their career, joining Denise Fliesser (women’s soccer), Jarrell NeSmith (football), Simon Holzapfel (men’s cross country), Taylor Rakes (baseball), Ashley Sarmiento (volleyball), Jillian Corum (women’s golf) and Lukas Winkelmann (men’s tennis).
The Chuckey-Doak High School graduate is a three-time member of the Tusculum Dean’s List, Tusculum President’s List and the South Atlantic Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll. He is also a member of the Alpha Chi Honors Society and the Charles Oliver Gray Honors List. He is a two-time winner of the Tusculum Student-Athlete Academic Achievement Award and was the 2011-12 recipient of the Tusculum Freshman of the Year Academic Award.

On the course, Cooper is a two-time All-SAC selection, earning first team honors in 2012 and finished eighth at this year’s championship, garnering second team recognition. In 2011, he was named to the SAC All-Freshman Team and is a three-year team captain.

He finished 24th at the 2013 NCAA II Southeast Region championship with a 10K-time of 32:41.4 to gain All-Region status for a second straight year. He was in 37th place after 3.6 kilometers and moved up to 29th place at the 7-kilometer mark. Cooper ran the final three kilometers in just over 10 minutes to climb five more spots into 24th place, just inside the top-25 threshold to claim All-Region status. Cooper’s finish was fourth-best among the South Atlantic Conference entrants in the field.

The 2013 SAC Men’s Cross Country Scholar Athlete of the Year has been involved in numerous campus and community leadership roles, serving with the Nettie Day of Service, the Greene County YMCA, the TC Athletic Judicial Board and the Greene County Humane Society. He is also the current president of the Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and is a past participant of the SAC Student-Athlete Leadership Conference.

Cooper becomes only the second male runner in program history to garner Academic All-America® honors on multiple occasions, joining former TC great Simon Holzapfel, who was a three-time honoree (2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11).
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America® honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

The Capital One Division II and III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams program.