Mullarkey Named Academic All-American
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- Swarthmore senior Cait Mullarkey was selected to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Women's Soccer Team, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Tuesday afternoon. Mullarkey is a third-team selection in the College Division and the lone representative from the Centennial Conference.
To be nominated for the ESPN the Magazine All-America program, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore with a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average and a starter or significant reserve on his or her team.
Mullarkey (Wilmington, Del. / Ursuline Academy) is the 10th Academic All-America selection from Swarthmore since 1987, and the first women’s soccer player. The last Garnet student-athlete to be recognized was Vernon Chaplin ’07 (track & field / cross country).
Mullarkey recently became the first defender to earn All-Centennial First-Team honors all four years and has been named All-Region twice by the National Soccer Coaches of America Association (NSCAA). Mullarkey is the vocal leader on a Swarthmore defensive unit that is second in the Conference in goals-against average (0.56), goals-allowed (12), and shutouts (13).
Mullarkey, an honors biology major, is active on the Student Activities Advisory Board and conducts cell biology research on campus. A McCabe Scholarship recipient upon admission to Swarthmore, she is a candidate for the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships for post-graduate work, having spent last summer at Georgetown Medical School researching malignant glioma, a type of brain cancer discovered in the diagnosis of Senator Ted Kennedy.
Off the field, Mullarkey has garnered a host of academic honors. She has been listed on the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll seven times and was named Philadelphia Inquirer Academic Performer of the Year for women’s soccer by the Philadelphia-Area Sports Information Directors Association (Philly-SIDA) at the end of last season.
Mullarkey is also a member of the College’s track & field team, winning the indoor 800-meter race in 2007 while holding the school record in the 3000-meter steeplechase. In 2008, she ranked in the top-30 in Division III for both events.
This year, the Garnet (10-4-6 overall, 5-1-4 CC) women’s soccer team won their second consecutive Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (E.C.A.C.) South Region Championship and appeared in the Centennial Conference playoffs for the third straight season.
Click here for the 2008 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America team (pdf).