ASU track & field places six on Academic All-District VIII Teams
Six members of the Arizona State University track and field program have been honored as ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII honorees, it was announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Three men and three women each garnered the honor based upon their outstanding academic and athletic achievement throughout the year with four of those athletes (those selected first team) being eligible for Academic All-America honors.
Selected First Team All-District VIII were Justin Kremer and Ryan Whiting for the men and Sarah Stevens and 2008 Pac-10 Women's Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year April Kubishta. Jason Lewis and Ali Kielty each earned Second Team All-District VIII honors.
Kremer and Whiting are the first two men honored as first team selections since Kal Clark in 2005 and mark just the second and third, respectively, to earn the distinction. Marcus Brunson, and now Lewis, are the only other men that have earned the honor in program history. If either Kremer or Whiting is selected for Academic All-America, it will mark the first time in men's history that a Sun Devil has earned the distinction in track & field and just the second time ever after Garrett Jensen attained second team honors for cross country in 2001.
On the women's side, Kubishta and Stevens are each being honored for the second year in a row after earning second team honors in 2007 and will look to join Jennifer Kowacz (2005), Lisa Aguilera (2003, 2002 and 2001) and Gea Johnson (1990) as the only women to earn Academic All-America. Only Aguilera (2001 cross country) and Johnson (1990 track & field) were selected to the national first team.
The Sun Devils will send 20 athletes to Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, next week (June 11-14) for the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII
Men
First Team - Justin Kremer and Ryan Whiting
Second Team - Jason Lewis
Women
First Team - April Kubishta and Sarah Stevens
Second Team - Ali Kielty