MACON, Ga. – Ryan Burruss of the Kennesaw State men’s cross country team was recognized as a unanimous Atlantic Sun Academic All-Conference Team Selection on Wednesday morning by the conference office.

Burruss, a Criminal Justice major that bolsters a 3.54 GPA has been one the Owls’ top runners over his four-year career. Placing seventh at the 2012 A-Sun Conference Championship and earning First Team All Conference honors for the first time, Burruss looks to earn his first trip to the NCAA Championships with a strong performance this weekend at the NCAA South Regional Championships.

"Making the A-Sun Academic All-Conference team is an honor. Any time you can be selected by your peers its always more significant," Burruss said. "As a captain, it is important to lead by example, both on the field and in the classroom. As a team we have worked extremely hard this season and we hope to have it reflected this weekend at the Regionals.”

Thus far in 2012, Burruss has finished inside the top-13 in five of his six races ran. His top performance came at the UWG Invitational where he placed third overall with an 8k time 24:20.54. He finished fifth at the Auburn Invitational, along with an 11th place performance at the Belmont Opener and a 13th place showing at the Florida State Invitational.

The A-Sun introduced the new sport-by-sport Academic All-Conference teams in the 2011-12 academic year to recognize student-athletes who embody the conference’s mission of Building Winners for Life. All the members of the team boast a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (GPA) or better and participated in at least half of their team’s games.

Burruss and the rest of the cross country teams will travel to Tallahassee, Fla., to compete at the NCAA South Regional Championships on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Appalachee Regional Park for a chance to advance to the NCAA Championship held on Nov. 17 in Louisville, Ky.

Keep up with Owls cross country by following KSU on Twitter at @KSUOwlNation and @KSUTrackFieldXC or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on Facebook.

Kennesaw State University is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY SCHOLAR-ATHLETE of the YEAR
Gilbert Kemboi, USC Upstate
Senior | GPA: 3.518 | Major: Sociology | Hometown: Eldoret, Kenya
• Second year in a row to be named Scholar Athlete of the Year
• Won his third-straight A-Sun Cross Country Individual Championship; One of three runners in conference history
• Led the Spartans to back-to-back A-Sun team championship crowns
• Recorded the third fastest winning time in A-Sun meet history at this year’s championship with a time of 24:16.70
• Awarded 10th career A-Sun Runner of the Week, the most in A-Sun cross country history; tying for the most in all A-Sun sports history.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
*Adam Chase, ETSU (Sophomore | GPA: 4.00 | Mathematics)
*Ryan Burruss, Kennesaw State (Senior | GPA: 3.54 | Criminal Justice)
Anders Ludvingsen, ETSU (Junior | GPA: 3.71 | Pre-Business)
Jacob Law, Mercer University (Senior | GPA: 3.93 | Engineering)
Kyle Burton, Stetson University (Sophomore | GPA: 3.99 | Biochemistry)
Ben Wright, Lipscomb University (Sophomore | GPA: 3.84 | Business Management)
Ross Oden, USC Upstate (Junior | GPA: 3.379 | Chemistry)
* Unanimous Selection
(A tie in the voting led to an eight man Academic All-Conference selection)