Nov. 14, 2008

RICHMOND - Junior Matt Llano was honored Friday as the Atlantic 10 Men's Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Year, while sophomores Nicol Traynor and Diana Filtz earned mention on the A-10 Women's Academic All-Conference Team, in voting conducted by the league's sports information directors.

By way of his runner-up finish at the A-10 Championship and his 3.65 GPA in psychology, Llano earned the distinction as the conference top men's cross country student-athlete. It marks the second consecutive A-10 academic award for Llano, who was on the Academic All-Conference Team last season.

The junior from Arnold, Md. posted a time of 24:05.2 at the A-10 Championship, finishing just seconds behind Charlotte's Adu Dentamo in the fastest meet in A-10 history. Llano earned A-10 Performer of the Week honors once this season, after placing first in a field of 117 runners on Sept. 13 at the Navy Invitational with a time of 24:38.3.

Llano, who is the first-ever Spider to win the award, is joined on the men's cross country Academic All-Conference team by Clifton Hilario of Fordham; Charlotte's Ryan Jank; Kevin Johnson of Massachusetts; Dayton's Chris Lemon; and Andrew Wagoner of La Salle.

On the women's side, Traynor and Filtz each earned a spot on the Academic All-Conference Team. Traynor sports a 3.41 GPA and finished third overall at the A-10 Championship in a time of 17:48. The sophomore from Basking Ridge, N.J. was a three-time A-10 Performer of the Week this season.

Filtz, a Harrison City, Pa. native, owns a 3.86 GPA and was 23rd overall at the A-10 Championship (18:49) as the women took the Conference Title.

Joining the Spider sophomores on the on the women's cross country Academic All-Conference team are Massachusetts' Shiyi Zan - the A-10 women's cross country Student-Athlete of the Year, teammates Becky Clark and Christina Schneider of Xavier; Liana Blue of Charlotte; and Mary Moloney of Saint Louis.

The Spiders compete at the NCAA Southeast Regional Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.