GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- For a third consecutive year, Tusculum College's David Cooper has been named to the 2014-2015 Capital One Division II Academic All-District 3 Men's Cross Country/Track & Field first team as selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Cooper advances to the Academic All-America® ballot, which will be announced next month.

Cooper graduated from Tusculum with a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average while majoring in biology at Tusculum. He is a two-time Capital One Academic All-America® Men's Cross Country/Track & Field Team selection, earning second team honors as a sophomore and was a first team honoree last year.

The Greeneville, Tennessee native is a two-time South Atlantic Conference Men's Cross Country Scholar Athlete of the Year honoree, becoming only the seventh two-time recipient of the award in league history.

The Chuckey-Doak High School graduate is a member of the Tusculum Dean's List, Tusculum President's List and the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll. He is also a member of the Alpha Chi Honors Society and the Charles Oliver Gray Honors List. He is the recipient of the Greene County Endowed Scholarship, the Llewelyn M. Fox '16 Memorial Annual Scholarship and the Ray L. Bowman '42 Endowed Scholarship.

He earned the Tusculum College President's Award this spring and also garnered the Tusculum Student-Athlete Academic Achievement Award for a third consecutive year.

On the course, Cooper was a three-time All-SAC selection earning first team honors in 2012 and finished eighth at the conference championship in each of the last two years to garner second team recognition. In 2011, he was named to the SAC All-Freshman Team and was a four-year team captain.

He accounted for one of the finest running careers in Tusculum history. He owns 10 of the top-25 running times (8,000 meters) in program history, including two in the top-10. His career-best 8K time of 26:02 at this year's Greater Louisville Classic is the fourth-lowest ever by a Pioneer. He recorded three individual wins in his career and led TC to a pair of team titles as well.

Cooper 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 also served as president of the Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was a past participant of the SAC Student-Athlete Leadership Conference.

Cooper becomes only the second male runner in program history to garner Academic All-District honors on three occasions, joining former TC great Simon Holzapfel, who was a three-time honoree (2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11).

Members of the Capital One Academic All-District 3 Team are selected by CoSIDA, which includes all colleges and universities in the South Atlantic Conference, Conference Carolinas and Peach Belt Conference.

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.

- CoSIDA -

2014-2015 Capital One NCAA II Academic All-District 3 Men's Cross Country/Track & Field Team
David Cooper, Tusculum
Tyler Lee, Wingate
Randall Freeman, Carson-Newman
Dylan Bates, Coker
Corey Mundy, Flagler
Akiharu Kitagawa, Mount Olive
Joel Johnston, UNC Pembroke
Jacob Troutman, Wingate
Austin Greeson, Wingate
Neopolian Patel, Wingate