Nine Kansas Cross Country Runners Earn Academic All-Big 12 Honors
Oct. 28, 2008
Big 12 Conference Release
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Nine Jayhawks have been named to the 2008 Academic All-Big 12 Cross Country Teams, the conference office announced Tuesday afternoon.
Six KU women’s runners were honored, all of them making the first team. The list includes senior Megan James, junior Lauren Bonds, and sophomores Kaitlyn Coen, Claire Hall, Amanda Miller and Riley Wertenberger. The six Jayhawk women were among 60 first-team selections and 66 overall.
James, an exercise science major from Kansas City, Mo., made the first team for the third time in three years, making it a clean sweep for her career.
Bonds, a political science major from Hutchinson, Kan., earned first-team honors for the second consecutive year.
Coen (accounting and finance), Hall (exercise science), Miller (business) and Wertenberger (chemical engineering) were all honored for the first time.
Senior Levi Huseman was named to the men’s first team, while sophomores Nick Caprario and Dan Van Orsdel were men’s second-team honorees. Huseman was among 50 men’s first-team members, while Caprario and Van Orsdel were two of the 10 members of the men’s second team.
It was the second time Huseman has been honored by the conference, and the first time as a first-team member. The secondary education/chemistry major from Tonganoxie, Kan., was named to the second team last season.
Caprario (industrial design) and Van Orsdel (finance) were each first-time honorees.
Nominated by each institution’s director of student-athlete support services and the media relations offices, the men’s and women’s cross country academic all-league squads includes those who have maintained a 3.00 GPA (either cumulative or over each of the two previous semesters) and have participated in 60 percent of his/her team’s scheduled contests. First-team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, and members of the second team are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.
Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
Kansas heads to the Big 12 Cross Country Championships in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday. The event will begin with the women’s 6K race at 10 a.m. CDT, followed by the men’s 8K run at 11 a.m. Admission is free to the public.
