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Issued: June 1, 2006

THREE TRACK/CC ATHLETES TABBED FOR ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT

Three UW-Eau Claire women's track and field/cross country athletes have been accorded ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District recognition.

Senior Jane Marie Ovanin (Amherst) was named to the 11-person College Division All-District 5 track & field/cross country first team while junior Steph Barnes (Sauk City/Sauk Prairie) and junior Liz Faller (Marinette) were named to the 11-person All-District 5 track & field/cross country second team.

The College Division encompasses all NAIA, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III schools and District 5 encompasses the states of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Ovanin sports a 3.94 cumulative GPA as an art major with a sculpture and metalsmithing emphasis. She was a member of the Blugolds' NCAA qualifying cross country team last fall and also was an individual NCAA qualifier as a freshman when she was the conference cross country individual runner-up. She was the WIAC (Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) Scholar-Athlete in cross country as a senior when she also was the team co-captain for a second straight year. In the conference indoor track meet this year, she placed fifth in the 3,000-meter race and sixth in the 5K. At the outdoor meet last month, she was fourth in the 5K and fourth in the 10K. She earned indoor All-American honors in 2002 in the 5K.

As a junior, Ovanin served as President of the Art Student Association and one of her sculptures took first place in the annual Juried Student Art Show.

Barnes is a two-time national champion and four-time NCAA All-American while maintaining a 3.65 GPA as a kinesiology major. Faller is a two-time NCAA All-American and possesses a 3.97 GPA as a physical education major.

Barnes won the NCAA Division III outdoor pole vault title in 2005 and the indoor pole vault gold medal this past spring. She also has a third place finish and a fourth place finish in the pole vault and owns the school indoor (12' 9") and outdoor (12' 11") records in that event.

Faller was the WIAC indoor 55-meter hurdle champ and the conference outdoor 100-meter hurdle champ this season. Last week, she earned All-American status by placing fourth in the 100-meter hurdles at the national meet. She was an All-American the previous year as a member of the Blugolds' 1600-meter relay team which finished seventh at the nationals.

The three Blugolds were among seven WIAC athletes that were named to All-District first or second teams.

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