Larwin & Macdonald Tabbed to Regional All-Academic Teams
EUGENE - A pair of Duck women’s track and field athletes - seniors Kirsten Larwin and Eri Macdonald - were named to Verizon West Region All-Academic Teams Tuesday.
Larwin, a Eugene native and South High School product, was picked to the 10-woman first team, and redshirt senior Macdonald, a Honolulu, Hawai’i native and Punahou prep graduate, claimed a spot on the 12-woman second team.
Team-wise, Oregon’s two recipients led Pac-10 schools, while Arizona, Stanford, UCLA, Washington State each sported one honoree. Altogether in the West Region, BYU, Long Beach, Southern Utah, UC Irvine and Utah also had two honorees.
To be eligible for honors, student-athletes must be redshirt freshmen or older, be enrolled in their university for at least a year, and sport a 3.3 cumulative grade point average. Voting was conducted by sports information directors across the nation.
Looking ahead, Larwin will now vie for national team honors all of the eight regionals' first team selections up for consideration, and the national team will be announced in approximately three weeks. Olympic heptathlete Kelly Blair and NCAA 5K champion Kathy Hayes were each two- and three-time first team All-Academic selections, respectively, and eight other UO women have combined for nine second, third or honorable mention honors.
On the track this week in the NCAA Championships, Larwin currently ranks ninth nationally in the pole vault with a personal best of 13-6 1/4 - a mark from the Pac-10 Champs in mid-May that also ranks her third all-time for the Ducks. She’s also cleared 13 feet outdoors in the West Regional (fifth-tie, 13-1 3/4), Oregon Preview (first, 13-1 3/4) and Pepsi Invite (second, 13-1 3/4) - all better than her pre-meet season best of 12-10. She was also an NCAA participant indoors in 2003 (10th, 13-3 1/2).
Macdonald, a journalism major, sported a 3.72 GPA and wrapped up her athletic career indoors winter term where she made her NCAA debut indoors in the 800 (14th, 2:09.14). During the regular season she earned her NCAA invite based on her indoor best of 2:06.75 from the Last Chance Qualifier in early March. In the fall of 2003, she ran top-two for Ducks in all six of her cross country races, including 16th in Pac-10 Champs and 27th in West Regional.
Verizon West Region Women's All-Academic First Team
Name, School, Year, Hometown, GPA - Major
Ana Cabrera, Washington State, Sr., Vancouver, Wash., 3.94 - Communication/Spanish
Andrea Davidson, Utah, Sr., Farr West, Utah, 3.957 - Elementary Education
Abbey Ellsberry, Boise State, Grad., Meridian, Idaho, 4.00 - Physical Education
Stephanie Hart, Southern Utah, Sr., Cedar City, Utah, 4.00 - Elementary Education
Kirsten Larwin, Oregon, Sr., Eugene, Ore., 3.89 - French
Desiree Leek, UC Santa Barbara, Jr., La Jolla, Calif., 3.94 - Biopsychology
Lindsey Metcalf, BYU, Jr., Orem, Utah, 3.90 - Early Childhood Education
Natalie Quilter, Southern Utah, Sr., Kearns, Utah, 4.00 - Geography
Maegan Schmutz, Southern Utah, Jr., Cedar City, Utah, 3.943 - Family and Consumer Science
Jennifer Yadon, Long Beach State, Jr., Lancaster, Calif., 3.95 - Kinesiology
Verizon West Region Women's All-Academic Second Team
Name, School, Year, Hometown, GPA -Major
Sara Bei, Stanford, Jr., Santa Rosa, Calif., 3.28 - Human Biology
Carolyn Berger, Hawaii, Sr., Honolulu, Hawaii, 3.93 - Political Science
Erin Curtis UC-Irvine Jr. Santa Cruz, Calif., 3.31 - Biological Science
Julie Elliot, Portland, Jr. Eugene, Ore., 3.66 - Nursing
Nellie Hammons Utah Jr. South Weber, Utah, 3.487 - English
Nicole Ireland San Diego State Sr. Las Vegas, Nev., 3.36 - Mathematics
Connie Jerz Arizona, Sr., Tucson, Ariz., 3.60 - Pre-Physiological Science
Eri Macdonald, Oregon, Sr., Honolulu, Hawaii, 3.72 - Journalism
Melissa McBain, UCLA, Sr., Thousand Oaks, Calif., 3.433 Psychology
Katie Moon, BYU, Sr., Evanson, Wyo., 3.91 - Botany
Stephanie Sampson, Long Beach State, Sr., Yorba Linda, Calif., - 3.25 Communications/Sport Mgt
Annmarie Turpin, UC-Irvine, Jr., Simi Valley, Calif., - 3.66 Demographic and Social Analysis
