Four Bowie State Student-Athletes Named to CIAA Commissioner's All-Academic Team ... Cassandra Clayborne Selected Female Scholar Athlete of the Year

Clayborne, Townsend, Lightfoot and Beck Named to CIAA Commissioner's All-Academic Team

HAMPTON, Va. - Four student-athletes from Bowie State University have been named to the 2015 CIAA Commissioner's All-Academic Team. The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) announced the 40 student-athletes from its 12 member institutions selected to the Commissioner's All-Academic Team. 

Seniors Cassandra Clayborne (Damascus, Md.) and Shayla Lightfoot (Henrico, Va.), graduate student Christopher Townsend (Washington, D.C.) and junior Justin Beck (Ellicott City, Md.) represent Bowie State as selections on the All-Academic team. Clayborne and Townsend earned First Team honors, while Lightfoot and Beck earned a spot on the Second Team.

The 2015 CIAA Commissioner's All-Academic Team consists of 20 male and 20 female student-athletes, as voted on by the CIAA Sports Information Directors' Association. The All-Academic Teams is divided into two groups, First Team and Second Team.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must have completed one full academic year at a CIAA institution, have a minimum grade-point-average of 3.20 (on a 4.0 scale) and must have competed as a starter or important reserve in a CIAA sanctioned sport (men's and women's cross country, women's volleyball, women's bowling, football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's track & field (indoor and outdoor), softball, baseball, men's golf, and men's and women's tennis).

Clayborne and Juan Sanchez of Shaw University were named the 2015 CIAA Female and Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, respectively.

Clayborne, an outfielder on the BSU softball team, is a three-time All-CIAA Softball First Teamer (2012, 2013 and 2015) and has a career ambition of becoming a rheumatologist. She is a two-time Capital One Academic All-District II (2013 and 2015) recipient and was selected to the 2015 member of the CIAA All-Tournament Team. The Bulldogs Most Valuable Player [2015] was the 2012 CIAA Rookie of the Year. She finished the 2015 season with a team-high .368 batting average, .566 slugging percentage and .969 fielding percentage. The outfielder scored a team-best 34 runs, had 39 hits which included five doubles, two triples and a team-high four homeruns. She was also responsible for 17 RBI. The Biology major has a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average.

Townsend led the Bulldogs football team in total tackles (73) during the 2014 season (47 assisted and 26 solo tackles, 17.5 tackles for a loss of 61 yards, two sacks, a pair of pass breakups, one quarterback hurry, four fumble recoveries and one forced fumble) . He achieved a 4.00 GPA during the Fall 2014 semester as a Public Administration major.

Lightfoot is a four-time All-CIAA Bowling honoree, (2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015), two-time CIAA Bowler of the Year (2013 and 2015), Team Most Valuable Bowler (2011-2012, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014), BSU Female Student-Athlete of the Year (2012-2013), member of the CIAA All-Tournament Team (2013 and 2014), CIAA Tournament MVP (2013), CIAA Tournament Co-MVP (2015) and Bowie State Female Athlete of the Year (2014-2015). She is Sports Management major with a 3.32 grade point average.

Beck has received the Bowie State men’s basketball Team Academic Award three consecutive years (2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015) and was named to the CIAA All-Tournament Team (2015). The Accounting major has a cumulative grade point average of 3.26. During the 2014-2015 season, he made 52.7 percent of his field goals (88-167), which included 15-42 behind the 3-point line, shot 78.8 percent at the free throw line (104-132), grabbed a team-high 180 rebounds (6.0 avg.), handed out 35 assists, blocked 12 shots, had 15 steals and scored 295 points (9.8 avg.).