FRISCO — Sophomore Paola Valerio picked up her second academic award in as many weeks, as she was named to the Southland Conference All-Academic Team, the league announced on Tuesday.

Valerio, a business major with a 3.30 GPA, earned second-team CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District VI honors last week and the Mexico City native is just the second player in program history to be named to the conference’s all-academic squad (Bruna Spengler was honored in 2010).

The sophomore led the league with a 74.9 stroke average during the regular season en route to being tabbed the 2011 Women’s Golfer of the Year and earning her second consecutive first-team selection. She recorded five top-10 finishes and her final 75.25 stroke average bested her own single-season record from her freshman campaign (75.73). Valerio also shot the lowest round in school history with a 66 in the final round of October’s Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships.

Joining Valerio on the all-academic squad were Lamar's Stine Pedersen, who was named Student-Athlete of the Year, along with Sam Houston State’s Shelby Hardy, Central Arkansas’ Julia Roth, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Ryann White.

The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic advisors from each Southland Conference university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the squad.