Blanford Named To Capital One Academic All-District Squad

AURORA, N.Y. – Junior captain Shannon Blanford (Fayetteville, N.Y.) of the Wells College women's soccer team has earned Capital One Academic All-District® First Team honors for her academic and athletic prowess in 2013, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced late Thursday afternoon. Blanford is the first student-athlete from Wells College to be recognized with this prestigious award.

Selected by the members of CoSIDA, the All-District Women's Soccer teams have been released to recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. Blanford and the other First Team Academic All-District honorees will now advance to the Capital One Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first, second and third team All-America honorees will be tabbed later in the month.

Blanford, a Biology major, ranked second on the team in 2013 with 20 points via eight goals and four assists (8-4=20) and was listed amongst the top-20 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play in point scoring. During her tenure at Wells, Blanford ranks second in modern-day program history with 75 points to her credit, scoring 29 goals and 17 assists (29-17=75) in only 56 games.

As a freshman in 2011, Blanford ranked third in the conference in point scoring after tallying 14 goals and 10 assists for 38 points (14-10=38). She was named as her team's Rookie of the Year following her breakout freshman season and went on to score seven goals and three assists for 17 points (7-3=17) as a sophomore forward for the Express.

Academically, Blanford sports a 3.98 grade-point average during her tenure at Wells. A two-time winner of North Eastern Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete honors, she has earned Dean's List recognition throughout her academic career in Aurora. A Henry Wells Scholarship recipient, Blanford was a member of the National Honor Society in high school and drew High Honors at Fayetteville-Manlius High School before graduating in 2011.

Selected as a forward, Blanford joins other District 3 players from schools such as Rochester Institute of Technology, Houghton, Rochester (N.Y.), New York University, Ithaca, St. John Fisher and Rensselaer Polytechnic. She was also one of only four juniors selected to the list – the remaining seven players earned placement to the list as seniors.

A comprehensive list of Academic All-District award winners can be found here.