Overdevest Named CAA Scholar-Athlete Award Winner

The first-team Academic All-American became the first Tribe men’s soccer player to earn the award.

01/03/08 2:00PM

Richmond, Va. - William and Mary senior Ryan Overdevest added to his list of academic honors after being named the Colonial Athletic Association Men’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete Award winner, the league office announced on Jan. 2. Overdevest became the first Tribe men’s soccer player to garner the distinction since the conference began handing out the award in 2002-03.

The conference honors a Scholar-Athlete in each of its 22 sports. Nominees for the award must be a starter or important reserve on their team and must meet the Academic All-America minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.20. The winners were selected by a vote of the sports information directors at each CAA institution.

A senior business major, Overdevest was selected to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America first team in 2007 after earning second team honors as a junior. He received William & Mary’s Robert M. Usry Award in 2007, which is given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the end of his junior year.

Overdevest started 17 of 21 games in the midfield for the Tribe this season. The team co-captain scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 triumph at Delaware and assisted on the game-winning score in a 1-0 victory over VCU. For his career, Overdevest has played in 61 matches, earning 25 starts.

For the fall sport CAA Scholar-Athlete Award winners, William and Mary led the way with two recipients. Senior Christo Landry garnered the accolades in men’s cross country. Also earning CAA Scholar-Athlete Awards for fall sports were Rachel Hannah of Georgia State in women’s cross country, Kelsey Cutchins of James Madison in field hockey, Sue Weber of Hofstra in women’s soccer and Colleen Walsh of Delaware in volleyball.

A finance and economics major, Landry has been chosen to the USTFCCCA Cross Country All-District All-Academic team. He is also a multiple-time recipient of the CAA Commissioner’s Academic Award. The senior earned CAA male Athlete of the Year honors in cross country in 2007 after winning the individual title at the conference championship with the second-best 8K time in league history. Landry placed fourth at the NCAA Southeast Regionals to garner All-Region honors for the third time and then became just the second three-time All-American in Tribe history after an im-pressive 13th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.