Track and field garners three All-Americans
The Bears notched three All-America citations at the NCAA Outdoor Championships May 25-27 in Lisle, Ill. The men finished tied for 36th in the team standings, while the women finished tied for 51st.
Senior David Skiba started May 27 off right for the Bears by taking sixth place in the 110-meter hurdles. Skiba ran a clean race and finished in a personal-best 14.33 seconds to seal his second career All-America citation. The sixth-place finish was also the best NCAA outdoor result in the 110 hurdles in school history.
Senior Greg Reindl followed with a sixth-place finish in the 5,000-meter run. He finished the race in 14:57.86.
Two days earlier, Bears sophomore Morgen Leonard-Fleckman placed fifth in the pole vault for the first All-America honor for WUSTL. Leonard-Fleckman cleared 12-2 (3.72 meters) to break the school record.
D’Andrea is softball Academic All-America
Sophomore Laura D’Andrea of the softball team was named ESPN The Magazine third-team Academic All-America, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). D’Andrea, a psychology major with a 3.80 grade point average, led the Bears in batting average (.476), hits (60), triples (five) and on-base percentage (.514). A first-team all-UAA selection, she hit safely in 35 of 44 games and is second on the Bears’ career batting average list (.409). D’Andrea joins Liz Swary (2003, 2004, 2005) as the second Academic All-America honoree in program history.
Track’s Badowski nabs Academic All-District
Junior Natalie Badowski garnered ESPN The Magazine first-team Academic All-District VII (College Division) honors for Cross Country/Track and Field, as announced by CoSIDA. With her first-team recognition, Badowski is eligible for selection to the Academic All-America Team that will be announced June 22.
A two-time (2005 NCAA indoor and outdoor) All-America honoree in the 4×400-meter relay, Badowski helped that same relay squad to the 2006 UAA indoor and outdoor championships. A 2005 third-team Academic All-America recipient, Badowski also placed third in the UAA indoor and outdoor 400-meter races this season.
Badowksi, a biology and philosophy-neuroscience-psychology major, has a chance to become just the third individual in WUSTL men’s and women’s track and field history to earn Academic All-America honors twice.
Asst. SID Povalitis earns regional award
Assistant sports information director Nick Povalitis has been named the 2005-06 American Volleyball Coaches Association Grant Burger Media Award winner for the Central Region. Povalitis, who enters his fourth season at the University, was one of eight award winners in Division III women’s volleyball.
Povalitis, who also won the regional award for the 2004-05 season, handles all publicity for baseball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s track and field, volleyball, women’s basketball and women’s tennis teams at the University.