Three Runners Named Academic All-District
June 03, 2005 12:35 PM | General
June 3, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Three members of the West Virginia University track & field and cross country teams have been honored as members of the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II team for the women’s track & field/cross country university division.
Seniors Megan Metcalfe, Devon Plesuk and Tara Struyk were three of 10 athletes tabbed for the award released Friday, June 3, and selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America.
All three Mountaineers are distance runners on the 2004-05 indoor and outdoor track teams running in the 5,000, as well as integral parts of the 2004 WVU cross country team. The cross country team won the Mid-Atlantic Regional in 2004 for the first time in school history before a 15th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, while the outdoor track team recently placed 10th at the NCAA East Regional.
Metcalfe, an eight-time All-American in track & field, earned her second All-America laurel in cross country after placing fourth at the Mid-Atlantic Regional and placing 16th at nationals. Metcalfe also captured gold for the outdoor track team this year at the East Regional in the 5,000 with a time of 15:47.64, and will compete at nationals June 8-11.
Struyk and Plesuk placed eighth and 43rd, respectively, in the Mid-Atlantic Regional in cross country. In track, Plesuk was a 18th-place finisher at the ECAC indoor meet this year in the 5,000 and a seventh-place finisher at the BIG EAST indoor meet. Struyk placed fourth in the event at the ECAC outdoor meet and eighth at the BIG EAST outdoor meet.
Metcalfe, pursuing a master’s degree in physical therapy, and Struyk, and journalism major, both hail from Edmonton, Alberta, while Plesuk is an exercise physiology major from Calgary, Alberta.
The University Division District II consists of all NCAA Division I universities in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. To be nominated for the Academic All-America program, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore with a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average and a starter or significant reserve on his or her team.
