CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston junior Christian Bailey has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District First Team for men's track & field/cross country, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Bailey, a native of Charlotte, N.C. and double-major in International Business and Spanish is one of 10 student-athletes on the District 3 University Division First Team. Other athletes come from schools such as North Carolina State University, Wake Forest and the University of South Carolina.

Bailey has achieved a cumulative 3.94 grade-point average and is a member of the College of Charleston Honors College. This fall he taught a freshman seminar class for the honors college. He also coordinated with other campus leaders on a literacy outreach initiative which involved reading books to elementary, middle and high school kids as well as organizing a nonprofit book fair.   

As a member of the men's cross country team Bailey had an outstanding season in which he broke the CofC school record in the 8,000-meter run and was the Cougars top finisher at the NCAA Southeast Regional in which his 10,000-meter time was fourth best in school history.

Following his first year at the College of Charleston, Bailey studied abroad in Spain, where he lived in a small city in Extremadura (about two hours from Madrid) where not many people spoke English. This spring he went abroad again, this time to Guadalajara, Mexico. To read about his experience so far in Mexico, click here.

Bailey sometimes runs as much as 100 miles a week, is a model student in the classroom and helps in the community. In doing so he is having a positive impact on all those around him.

"Anytime you have someone who is willing to go the extra mile and in his case the 100 miles, you have a great example," Head Coach Amy Seago said. "I think his teammates are able to see that and how it affects performance and can understand that work really does translate to success."