Date: Thursday, April 20, 2000
CINDY MANNING NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN AGAIN
MEDFORD – Senior Cindy Manning (Valparaiso, IN/Valparaiso) of the Tufts University women's cross country/track & field teams has been named to the 1999-2000 GTE Academic All-America College Division Fall/Winter At-Large Team. It is the second straight year that Manning has earned this prestigious national honor.
Manning's achievements during the fall cross country season were the athletic credentials considered for this award. This past fall she led the Tufts team to its first-ever appearance at the NCAA National Championship Race in Winnecome, Wisconsin on November 20. She placed 22nd overall with a time of 17:32.1 at Nationals, earning All-American honors and helping the Jumbos to an 11th place finish. Head coach Branwen Smith-King's team was a surpise enty into the National Race after finishing third at the NCAA New England Regional Race hosted by UMass-Dartmouth on November 13. Manning led that effort by finishing fifth overall with a 17:33 time.
Manning is also a two-time national qualifier in track and holds the team records for the 5,000 Meters Indoors (17:10) and the 10,000 Meters Outdoors (37:08). In addition to competing as a runner in the fall, winter and spring seasons, she is an extraordinary student and volunteers for several campus and community organizations.
Manning, who will graduate on May 21, carries a 3.97 grade point average as a Biopsychology major. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society, she has been vice-president of the Tufts chapter of the Golden Key National Honor Society and has received Achievement Awards and Prizes for chemistry and general biology. She is one of this year's recipients of the university's Alex Elias Memorial Prize Scholarship for community activities and outstanding athletic and scholarly accomplishments.
Among her community activities are involvement with the university's Leonard Carmichael Volunteer Society and as a volunteer at Porter Memorial Hospital in her hometown. Accepted into the Tufts University School of Medicine at the end of her sophomore year, she intends to pursue a career in neurology.
Manning joins Sarah Hilgenberg of Wellesley College and Barbara Swallow of Springfield College as the New England students on the 15-member Academic All-America First Team. She is the only woman in the region named to the team for a second consecutive year.
"Cindy is very driven in whatever she pursues," said Smith-King. "I have never seen Cindy back down from a challenge. That's something she has that makes her so outstanding. She understands what she has to do to succeed."
Manning is part of a long line of Academic All-Americans at Tufts. The university has placed a student-athlete on the First, Second or Third Team each year since 1997. In addition to the national honors, several student-athletes are named to Northeast Region Academic All-America teams each year.
"I am the type of person who is very competitive, very goal-oriented," Manning said. "Once I set these goals, I am determined to meet them. If you believe you can do something and you don't give up, then you can do it."
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