TOWSON, Md. The Citadel's Chris McGuiness and Sonny Meade continued to receive accolades for their efforts in 2009, this time being honored for their off the field achievements as the two were named Academic All-America First Team by ESPN The Magazine Tuesday. The Citadel was the only school in the country to place two members on the first team.
The only teammates on the Academic All-America first team, McGuiness and Meade were both named to the All-Southern Conference First Team in 2009 while Meade earned All-SoCon Tournament honors as well. The Academic All-America teams are selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and are presented by ESPN The Magazine. Both cadet-student-athletes were named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team last month.
One of only two juniors on the Academic All-America team, McGuiness is a two-year starter at first base for The Citadel who batted .367 with 15 home runs and 59 RBI. He leads NCAA Division I with 64 walks and is one of the national leaders with a .526 on-base percentage. A business administration major with a 3.92 GPA, the James Island, S.C. native ranks among the conference leaders in homers and RBI.
A business administration major with a 3.83 GPA that graduated in May, Meade batted .397 with 22 doubles, five home runs and 67 RBI. With 59 runs scored, he led the Southern Conference in 2009. In the SoCon Tournament, he banged out his 100th hit of the season, setting The Citadel's single-season record for hits. Meade ended the season with a league-leading 104 hits a mark that also ranks second in the nation. He ended his career with 355 career hits, a mark that is tied for second in Southern Conference history. Meade is just the second player in school history and third in conference history to record 300-plus career hits.
The duo's accomplishments made The Citadel one of only three schools along with Morehead State and Missouri State to place multiple student-athletes on the All-America team overall with the Bulldogs being the only ones with multiple honorees on the first team.
McGuiness and Meade led The Citadel to a 37-22 record with a 20-10 mark in SoCon play as the Bulldogs advanced to the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament. The Citadel was the only team in the Southern Conference to record a winning record against teams ranked in the top 50 of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), going 7-4. The two also helped The Citadel to a season sweep over South Carolina for the first time since 1961.
The first team honors mark the first time The Citadel has placed multiple cadet-student-athletes on the Academic All-America teams in a single season. McGuiness and Meade earned the 13th and 14th Academic All-America honors The Citadel has received in the storied history of the baseball program, a program that has won more Southern Conference Championships than any other.
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