RACHEL SMITH BECOMES SAGE'S FIRST COSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN

Troy, NY---- The Sage Colleges' junior outfielder and pitcher Rachel Smith (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane), a member of the softball team was named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America ® Softball Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.  She becomes to the first Sage student-athlete to earn this distinction.

The Capital One Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2011-12 Division III Academic All-America® teams program.

Smith's accomplishments at Sage this season have been widespread. She was named the recipient of the 2012 Gator of the Year Award as the team Most Valuable Player in softball this season, while also garnering a selection as the Female Athlete of the Year at Sage for her efforts during the 2011-2012 academic year.  She was also named to the 2012 Skyline Conference All-Star First Team in softball, another first-time feat for Sage.  

On her 2012 season, she penned her name to Sage single-season records for home runs (9), at-bats (169), and runs scored (43). She is also a record holder as this year's team has played in more games than any other Sage squad with 46 appearances to her credit. For the year, Smith batted .363 with 58 hits, including 12 doubles, one triple and nine home runs. She drove in 39 RBI's with a. 619 slugging percentage. She also turned a strong performance as a Sage pitcher in 2012. She went 13-8 with a team-best 2.52 ERA in 111 innings of work with a personal-best 78 strikeouts. She hit successfully in all but five games this season and had 11 games with multiple RBIs, including a personal-best five RBIs in the Gators' 16-2 win over Skidmore. She was named to the 2012 Skyline Conference All-Star First Team and is also a candidate for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) All-Star Team.   

Sage's 2012 softball team achieved a number of program firsts as well this season. Among the highlights the Gators garnered the No. 2 seed in both the Skyline Conference Softball Tournament and the ECAC Metro NY-NJ Championships and by tournament's end had captured the runner-up trophy in both tournaments, both program firsts for the softball program which just wrapped its 40^th season with a distinguished list of records and accomplishments, while under the direction of their new head coach, Jamie Brown after posting an impressive 29-17 record.

About Capital One      

Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., and ING Bank, fsb, had $216.5 billion in deposits and $294.5 billion in total assets outstanding as of March 31, 2012. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One and ING Direct offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has approximately 1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index.

Capital One, an NCAA Corporate Champion, began its affiliation with college sports with the sponsorship of the 2001 Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl) and ESPN's Capital One Bowl Week. In addition, Capital One sponsors the ABC College Football Halftime Report, Capital One All-America Mascot team, Capital One Academic All-America Program, and supports all 89 NCAA Championships including the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, and numerous other collegiate athletics programs.

About Academic All-America® Program      

      To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.

      Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

      For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.

Academic All-American of the Year:  Kelsey Kittleson, Luther

FIRST TEAM

Pos.    Name              School                  Yr.       Hometown                GPA    Major

P       Stacey Hagensen     Pacific Lutheran  Sr.   Bellevue, Wash.       3.91  Mathematics  & 
                                                                                                                            Economics

P         Rose Tusa      Wisconsin-River Falls    Sr.      Roseville, Minn.  3.88    Geography

C         Kelsey Kittleson (1)     Luther              Sr.    St. Ansgar, Iowa  4.0   Biology

IF         Sarah Budz (2)         Dominican (Ill.)   Sr.    Orland Park, Ill.    3.79 Nutrition & Dietetics

IF         Caitlin Cromley    Misericordia     Jr.        Jersey Shore, Pa.    3.97  Biology & Physical 
                                                                                                                        Therapy

IF         Ashley Goettl      Wisconsin-River Falls   Jr.  North Mankato, Minn.   3.83    Journalism, 
                                                                                                       Pol. Science, Comm. Studies

IF         Marianne Specker (1) Brandeis      Sr.       South Windsor, Conn.  3.92    Psychology

OF       Jaydee Baxter              Linfield      Sr.       Damascus, Ore.        3.83    Exercise science

OF       Casey Clarridge (2)    Otterbein    Sr.  Marysville, Ohio         3.86    History/Secondary 
                                                                                                                       Education

OF       Meghin Palmer            Marywood  Jr.   Greencastle, Pa.      3.9    CSD Speech 
                                                                                                                  Language  Pathology

DP      Kaaren Hatlen         Pacific Lutheran    Jr.   Woodinville, Wash.       3.95    Mathematics

SECOND TEAM

Pos.    Name         School                         Yr.       Hometown                GPA    Major

P         Ashton Brey    East Texas Baptist    Sr.       Lindale, Texas          4.00    Mass 
                                                                                                                       Communication

P         Bridget Holloway         Emory          Sr.       Sparta, Ill.          3.63  Women's 
                                                                                                                    Studies/History

C         Adrienne Rahs   Gettysburg        Sr.       Bethlehem, Pa.              4.02    Mathematics

IF         Claire Bailey                 Emory     So.      Henrico, Va.                    3.97    Biology

IF         Lesley Guenard    Wheaton (Ill.)   Sr.    Hanover, Mass.     3.77  Business & Economics

IF         Abby Martin       SUNY Cortland       Sr.       Oswego, N.Y.                  3.61    Kinesiology

IF         Gillian McCarthy  Rensselaer Polytechnic   Jr.   Worthington, Ohio      3.92   Business & 
                                                                                                                            Management

IF         Kayla Rutkoski    King's  (Pa.)     Jr.        Shickshinny, Pa.            3.89    Biology

OF       Joey Cronin      Texas-Tyler        Jr.        Celina, Texas                 3.87    Kinesiology

OF       Alison Gray       Wisconsin-Stout    Jr.        St. Cloud, Minn.             4.00    Packaging

OF       Rachel MacBeth (1)    DePauw      Sr.       Indianapolis, Ind.           3.95    Biochemistry

DP      Lauren Goldfarb   Wellesley           Jr.        Albuquerque, N.M.        3.50    Geoscience

THIRD TEAM

Pos.    Name                 School                    Yr.       Hometown                     GPA    Major

P         Brittany Danilov  John Carroll            Sr.       Canfield, Ohio                3.48    Accounting

P         Alexandria (Alex) Hill  Montclair State  So.      Parsippany, N.J.            3.46    Psychology

C         Nicolina Veneziano (3) Rowan            Sr.       Bloomfield, N.J.               3.75        Health 
                                                                                                                       & Exercise Science

IF         Lisa Klass       Gustavus Adolphus     Sr.       Richfield, Minn.           3.63    Management

IF         Caitlin Lovend  Frostburg State        So.      Laurel, Md.               3.82    Athletic training

IF         Karleigh Prestianni     Linfield         Jr.        Grants Pass, Ore.          3.50    Finance

IF         Kelly Zaccheo      Scranton            Sr.       Scranton, Pa.              3.80 Biomathematics
                                                                                                                            & Philosophy

OF       Shari Huber     Luther            Jr.        Eldridge, Iowa                3.92    Physical Education

OF       Rachel Smith    The Sage Colleges    Jr.        Valatie, N.Y.        3.80    Health Sciences

OF       Laura Tjepkema          Hope         Jr.        Dorr, Mich.            4.0   Education, 
                                                                                                          Special Education Emph.

DP      Kelsey Neal    Washington (Mo.)   So.      Miami, Okla.           3.86    Economics

(1)    2011 Capital One Academic All-America® College Division first team selection      

(2)    2011 Capital One Academic All-America® College Division second team selection           

(3)    2011 Capital One Academic All-America® College Division third team selection