RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Cassie Mattia, who recently completed an outstanding career as a runner at the University of Rio Grande, has been named a third team selection to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America College Division women's track & field/cross country team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The West Chester, Ohio native, who carried a 3.77 grade point average as a Communications major, reached the NAIA National Championship in cross country, as well as both indoor and outdoor track & field.
Mattia was a member of theRedStorm's 4x800 relay team which re-wrote the school record book throughout the course of the indoor and outdoor season.
The squad - which also included seniors Kayla Graves (Chillicothe, OH) and Kayla Renner (Galloway, OH), junior Amy Lower (Westerville, OH) and freshman Samantha Barnes (Gallipolis, OH) - captured the Mid-South Conference championship by finishing in a time of 9:20.75 - a mark that eclipsed the previous school-best time they'd set in March at Coastal Carolina University's Shamrock Invitational by nearly eight full seconds.
It was almost 28 seconds faster than the previous MSC meet record.
The foursome, including Lower as an alternate, advanced to the NAIA National Championship, but narrowly missed qualifying for the finals in the event.
Mattia also set a new MSC meet record in the 800-meter run with her finish of 2:16.37, bettering the old mark of 2:17.20 that she had established one year earlier.
That time, however, was nearly two seconds slower than the school-best 2:14.71, which she ran on April 21 at the Eastern Kentucky Open - a mark which qualified her for the national championship. Her finish in the EKU Open bettered her previous school record of 2:14.94 which, earlier this year, erased the previous school record of 2:15.20 set by Rio Grande Hall of Famer Perri Martin 32 years ago.
Unfortunately, Mattia also narrowly missed qualifying for the finals at the national championships.
CoSIDA's Academic All-America program is divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the first year that the program has expanded from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) to separate teams for NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and College (a combination of NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools).
Student-athletes who are named to the All-District first team then become eligible for All-America honors.
