RAPID CITY, S.D. --- South Dakota Mines junior Ryan Weiss was named to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women's Basketball All-Academic First Team announced Thursday from the league office in Colorado Springs, Colo., while Michaela Shaklee, Melissa Johnstone and Francesca Facchini all earned RMAC Honor Roll accolades for the 2020-21 season.

Weiss, a redshirt junior from Ames, Iowa, carried a cumulative 3.81 GPA during the women's basketball campaign. She started every game this season except two, due to injury. She has reached the 1,000 point milestone for the Hardrockers and is No. 2 all-time for three-pointers made (211). She was also an all-academic first teamer during the 2019-20 season as well.

"Ryan is one of the hardest workers I have ever met whether it be in the classroom, weight room, on the basketball court, or strengthening relationships with her teammates," said Hardrocker women's basketball head coach Jeri Jacobson. "She strives to be the best she can be and I am so proud of what she has accomplished this year in all facets of her life. I can't think of anyone more deserving of this recognition than Ryan for her dedication to her academics and our team."

First Team All-Academic members, were voted on by the conference's sports information directors. To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must carry a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (GPA) and must have been an active student at the institution for at least two consecutive semesters or three consecutive quarters.

Shaklee, a senior Applied Biological Sciences major from Arvada, Colorado, received her third-consecutive RMAC Honor Roll award with a 3.725 GPA; Johnstone, a junior Chemical Engineering major from Flower Mound, Texas, earned her second RMAC Honor Roll award with a 3.613 GPA; and Facchini, a senior Pre-Health major, from Genova, Italy, earn RMAC Honor Roll for the first time with a 3.532 GPA.

To earn a spot on the RMAC Honor Roll, a student-athlete must carry a minimum 3.30 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) and must have been an active student at the institution for at least two consecutive semesters.

"Congratulations to Ryan, Shak, Fran, and Mel on this tremendous accomplishment," Jacobson added. "They set the bar for academic success and because of their leadership in the classroom, our entire team has been extremely successful academically this year. I'm especially proud of them because they had to adapt to online learning and often times teach themselves material or problem solve to succeed in their classes. Not an easy thing to do at a school like South Dakota Mines, but they are brilliant and hard workers."
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RMAC All-Academic