RICHMOND, Va.  (December 19, 2011) - James Madison junior Cross Country runner Stacey Nobles (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) has been named Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year as announced today.

The conference honors a scholar-Athlete in each of its 23 sports. Nominees for the award must be a starter or important reserve on their team and must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.25. The winners were selected by a vote of the sports information directors at each CAA institution.

Nobles is a four-time CAA Commissioner's Academic Award recipient in cross country and track and field.  She has made the JMU President's List (4.0 GPA) in three semesters and has been a JMU Athletic Director Scholar-Athlete in four consecutive semesters.  Nobles earned All-CAA honors for the third straight season after placing third overall at the 2011 CAA Cross Country Championship with a time of 22:09 over the 6K course.  The effort helped lead the Dukes to the team title.  She currently has the fourth-fastest time in JMU history in 5K events and the ninth-fastest time in school history in 6K competitions.

Nobles is majoring in interdisciplinary liberal studies.  This is the first time she has received Scholar Athlete of the Year recognition.

Other Scholar Athlete of the Year award winners were Will Zahorodny of UNC Wilmington in Men's Cross Country, Kaela Barker of Northeastern University in Field Hockey, Vincent Foermer of Georgia State in Men's Soccer, Mallory Schaffer of William and Mary in Women's Soccer and Vineece Verdun of Georgia State in Volleyball.

Portions of this article were taken from caasports.com.