Alves Named Capital One Academic All-American

Jill Alves

Whitman, Mass., native becomes Stonehill's tenth Academic All-American

EASTON, Mass. (June 20, 2012) – Stonehill College senior track & field and cross country standout Jill Alves (Whitman, Mass./Whitman-Hanson Regional) has earned Capital One Academic All-America honors as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America committee.

Alves, who becomes the tenth Academic All-American from Stonehill College, was voted to the Capital One third team for her athletic and academic accomplishments. Alves is the first track & field and cross country student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors in program history and the College's second female student-athlete, fourth overall, to earn Academic All-America honors during the 2011-12 academic year joining women's soccer junior back Elizabeth Belanger (Hooksett, N.H./Manchester Central) who earned Academic All-America accolades during the fall.

Alves joins Don Prohovich '80 (baseball), Kevin Broderick '93 (football), Julie Stockwell '00 (basketball), Amy Bartlett '02 (lacrosse), Erin Acone '06 (lacrosse), who earned Academic All-American honors in 2005 and 2006, Michael Mashkevich '10 (tennis), Belanger (women's soccer) and Stephen Polito '12 (track & field/cross country) in the exclusive Stonehill College Academic All-America club. Acone, Bartlett and Stockwell hold the distinction of earning both All-America and Academic All-America accolades in their respective sports during their careers. 

Alves, a two-time Academic All-District honoree, compiled a 3.46 cumulative grade point average as a psychology major at the College. Alves also collected Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) Academic All-Conference and USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades this cross country season. In addition, Alves has been a consistent member of both the NE-10 Commissioner's and Athletic Director's Honor Rolls during her time at Stonehill in all three sports.

During this past cross country season, Alves finished 15th overall at the NE-10 Championships covering the 5-kilometer course in 18:34.85, a season-best, to earn All-Conference third team honors and help Stonehill capture its third-straight conference championship, tenth overall in program history. Alves backed up that performance two weeks later with a 13th place showing at the NCAA Division II East Regionals to aid the Skyhawks in their third-straight regional title victory and help secure their 12th-straight trip to the NCAA Division II Championships.

Alves has appeared on the NE-10 All-Conference team for cross country in all four seasons at Stonehill, was named the NE-10 Rookie of the Year in 2008 and has also been selected to the NCAA All-East Region team all four times during her career.

On the track, Alves is the two-time defending champion in the 1,000-meter run (indoors) after successfully defending her title this past season at the NE-10 Indoor Championships with a time of 3:00.96. Alves is the school record holder in the event as she posted a time of 2:56.24 at the New England Championships on February 27, 2010. Alves finished eighth overall earning All-New England honors for her efforts.

Alves holds three relay records at the
College and one individual record in the
1,000-meter run (indoors).

Alves also ran the lead leg of the 4x800 meter relay at this year's NE-10 Indoor Championships along with teammates Erin Rielly (Burlington, Mass./Burlington), Elizabeth LaRegina (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) and Sarah Wilson (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield) placing first overall while establishing a new conference championship record in the process. The quartet broke Southern Connecticut State's record from last season (9:45.71) with a time of 9:29.08. Alves ran a 2:22 split while Rielly posted a 2:22 split, LaRegina ran the third leg in 2:25 and Wilson anchored the relay in 2:19.

Alves is also a member of three school record relay performances including the distance medley (indoor), 4x400-meter and 4x800-meter relays (both outdoor). Alves helped the Skyhawks provisionally qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships and shatter the previous school record in the distance medley relay along with teammates Maria Curit (Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford), Wilson and senior Maura Ferrarini (Springfield, Mass./Cathedral) at the Boston University (BU) Valentine Invitational on February 11 running a time of 12:03.47. The previous program best was 12:17.17.

Alves, Curit and Wilson also teamed up with senior Christen Carrier (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Central) to break the women's outdoor track and field 4x800-meter relay record by more than ten seconds with a 13th place showing at the 177th edition of the Penn Relays, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, in front of a crowd of over 35,000 at historic Franklin Field on April 28.

Curit opened up the relay with a split of 2:19.5, Alves followed and posted the fastest split on the squad running the second-leg in 2:16.6, Wilson ran the third-leg in 2:18 and Carrier capped off the record breaking run with a 2:17.1 split as the anchor-leg for a total time of 9:11.51.

At the NE-10 Outdoor Championships, Alves, Carrier, Curit and Wilson placed third overall in the 4x400-meter relay in 3:54.44. Alves also competed in the 1,500-meter run placing fifth overall with a time of 4:43.96. Alves wrapped up her outdoor season with a 23rd place finish at the New England Championships on May 12 running a time of 4:51.25 in the 1,500-meter run.

To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) 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 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.