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Women’s
Track Adds Two Academic All-Americans
Lincoln – After the Nebraska men’s track and field team
produced a nation-high five CoSIDA Academic All-Americans on Tuesday,
Head Coach Gary Pepin had two members of his women’s team named
to the Capital One Academic All-America Women’s Track and
Field/Cross Country Team on Thursday. Senior Natalie Willer was named
to the first team after earning third-team accolades last season, while
junior Ashley Miller was a second-team selection.
The 2011 Nebraska Female Student-Athlete of the Year, Willer continued
to excel on and off the track for the Huskers this in 2011. The
Elkhorn, Neb., native swept the Big 12 pole vault titles in 2011,
including a school and meet-record vault of 14-2 ¼ during the
indoor season. She then placed third at the NCAA Indoor Championships
and was fifth at the outdoor championships to capture two All-America
honors. Throughout her career at Nebraska, Willer won four Big 12
titles in the pole vault, was a seven-time NCAA qualifier and holds
school records in the vault both indoors and outdoors.
Willer has also earned two postgraduate scholarships this year,
including one each from the Big 12 Conference and NCAA. She was picked
for the Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship from the Big 12 and
was one of 29 student-athletes nationwide to earn a $7,500 scholarship
from the NCAA during the winter.
Miller earned her first CoSIDA Academic All-America award after winning
her first Big 12 title in 2011. Only the second Husker in school
history to win the Big 12 outdoor 1,500-meter title, Miller earned
second-team All-America honors in the 1,500 meters at the NCAA Outdoor
Championships with an 11th-place finish. Miller clocked a personal-best
time of 4:18.53 at the national meet, the fifth-best performance in NU
history.
The Husker women have produced 24 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans since
1985, when Nicole Ali was the team’s first honoree as a
second-team pick. Nebraska and Arkansas are tied for the national lead
in women’s track and field/cross country Academic All-Americans
at 14 each since 2002, when the team was created after previously
being part of the women’s at-large team. With the two additions,
the Husker track and field program took the national lead over Calvin
College in Academic All-Americans with 29 combined selections between
the men’s and women’s teams since 2002.
Nebraska leads the nation
in CoSIDA Academic All-Americans across all sports with 291 awards,
while Notre Dame has managed 221 selections. |
