Beavers Lead League with Seventeen All-Academic Rowers
June 6, 2012
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -
Seventeen Oregon State women's rowers, the most in the league, received recognition for their work in the classroom when the Pac-12 Conference's All-Academic teams were announced Wednesday by Commissioner Larry Scott.
To be eligible for selection to the academic team, student-athletes must have a minimum 3.0 overall grade-point average and be either a starter or significant contributor and have attended their institution for a year or more.
Seniors Lauren Morgenthaler (3.98 grade point average, sociology), Melissa Sloan (3.72 GPA, environmental science) and Leslie Urban (3.96 GPA, nutrition); and juniors Beth Lewis (3.74 GPA, Spanish), Alexa Ortiz (3.90 GPA, zoology) and Hilary Polis (3.92 GPA, environmental economy, policy and management) garnered first team all-academic honors. Morgenthaler, Polis and Urban's selections to the squad mark the third consecutive selection to the first team, while Sloan received her second straight nomination to the first team academic squad and third overall (second team in 2010). It is also the second consecutive year Lewis and Ortiz have earned first team status.
In addition to the six first-team selections, senior Andrea Harvey (3.31 GPA, exercise and sport science); juniors Leslie Greer (3.28 GPA, exercise and sport science), Kayla Laney (3.39 GPA, exercise and sport science), Karly Laney (3.48 GPA, exercise and sport science), Ellen Pesek (3.41 GPA, natural resources); and sophomores Lin Hill (3.50 GPA, athletic training), Nicole Hook (3.38 GPA, biology), Anna Taylor (3.33 GPA, geography) and Tina Vernazza (3.50 GPA, nutrition) were named second-team all-academic. It is the second straight second-team honor for Greer, and the Laney's and is the third overall selection for Harvey, who previously earned honorable mention in 2010 and '11.
Honorable mention selections were senior Bonnie Chilibeck and sophomore Rita Hepler. Chilibeck previously received mention in 2010 and was a first-team recipient in 2011.
