Thursday, Feb 26, 2009

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Kristen Ballinger and Sara McCune have been named to the 2008 NCAA Div. III All-Academic Team as selected by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Sara McCune

Kristen Ballinger

The academic honor is for students who have minimum 3.5 cumulative grade point average and finished in the top 25 percent of the field at their NCAA regional meet.

Ballinger, a sophomore from Wenatchee, Wash., finished eighth at last November's West Region championships in Salem, Ore.

That qualified Ballinger for the national championship meet, where she had the fifth-highest finish among runners from the Northwest Conference (NWC). She finished 107th overall in a national field of 279 runners.

McCune, a junior from Corvallis, Ore., placed 21st in a field of 113 runners at the regional championship meet.

Both Ballinger and McCune, along with junior Yasmeen Colis (Walla Walla, Wash.), made the women's All-NWC Team earlier in the fall season.

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
holden@whitman.edu; (509) 527-5902