Three from Xavier are Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars

Chinedu Echebelem

Javon Mead

Devinn Rolland

NEW ORLEANS — Three student-athletes from Xavier University of Louisiana — Javon Mead (men's track and field/cross country), Chinedu Echebelem (women's volleyball) and Devinn Rolland (women's track and field) — have been named Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars for the 2012-13 academic year.

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, a magazine based in Fairfax, Va., has sponsored the awards since the mid-1990s.

Criteria for the awards include being a person of color with a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 through the fall 2012 semester. Honorees must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and have a demonstrated record of service to the campus or community.

All three from Xavier were chosen to the first team, with Mead receiving that distinction for the second consecutive year. They are the only Ashe scholars this year from an NAIA or Louisiana university listed in the April 11 edition of Diverse Issues.

Mead, a junior from Baton Rouge, La., and a graduate of Baton Rouge Magnet High School, is an accounting major with a 3.81 GPA and a three-time All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference cross country runner. He finished fifth at the 2012 GCAC Championships to help the Gold Rush post the first perfect score in the men's division since 1996.

This is the latest in a series of academic awards for Mead, who was a Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete during the fall and a third-team CoSIDA Academic All-American a year ago.

Echebelem, a sophomore from Dallas, Texas, and a graduate of Duncanville High School, is a chemistry/pre-medical major with a 3.79 GPA. She was first-team All-GCAC as a freshman and made the second team as a sophomore. She was voted MVP of the 2012 GCAC Tournament, which the Gold Nuggets won for the second consecutive year. Echebelem's sophomore statistics included 244 kills and 238 digs.

Rolland, a sophomore from Harvey, La., and a graduate of Cabrini High School in New Orleans, is a chemistry/pre-pharmacy major with a 4.0 GPA. On April 13 she repeated as champion in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the long jump at the GCAC Outdoor Championships. She has reached the A-qualifying standard in three individual events for next month's NAIA National Championships — 100 (11.97 seconds), 200 (24.52) and long jump (5.77 meters/18 feet, 11¼ inches) — and as a member of the 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

This season Rolland has been named GCAC Athlete of the Week in women's field six times and in women's track three times. She was an NAIA All-American in the long jump a year ago.

Xavier is one of 38 U.S. colleges listed as a "Best Buy School" in the 2013 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges.


By Ed Cassiere, SID
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
XULAATHLETICS