Wheaton, Ill. –Wheaton College’s
Lisa Baumert and
Brandi McNeil have each been selected to the ESPN The Magazine College Division Academic All-District V Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country Team for 2009. Baumert and McNeil each earned Second Team Academic All-District honors.
Baumert graduated from Wheaton in May as a double-major in Political Science and Theology, holding a 3.47 cumulative grade point average. Baumert, a competitor for Wheaton’s cross country and track and field teams, participated in five NCAA Championship events during her junior and senior seasons. She was a four-time All-CCIW selection in cross country, winning the CCIW Women’s Cross Country Championship in 2009. She represented Wheaton at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2008 and 2009, earning All-American recognition in 2008. Baumert won the 2009 CCIW Indoor Championship in the one-mile run and finished 12th at the 2009 NCAA-III Indoor Championships in the 5,000-meter run. She also won the conference title in the 10,000-meter run at the 2009 CCIW Outdoor Championships and competed at the 2009 NCAA-III Outdoor Championships in the 5,000-meter run.
McNeil received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Wheaton in May, holding a 3.51 cumulative grade point average. McNeil is a four-time All-American in the women’s javelin throw, finishing second in the event during her junior and senior seasons. In May she won the CCIW Championship in the women’s javelin for the fourth time in her career, to become the first woman to win the CCIW Title in the event all four years of her career. In March McNeil recorded a throw of 165’ 4” that was the top throw in Division III this spring and qualified her for the USA Track & Field National Championships.
The Academic All-District Team is a part of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program that honors student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level in athletics and in the classroom. Members of the eight First Team Academic All-District squads advance to the national ballot, where they have the opportunity to be selected for the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA; a 2,000-member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution. Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.