GREENWOOD, Ind. (May 28, 2019) – For the first time in seven years, Oklahoma Christian has landed multiple student-athletes on the Google Cloud Academic All-District 6 Track and Field/Cross Country honor list, as seniors
Rachel Meyers and
Leisa VanVooren made the team announced Tuesday by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Meyers, from Fort Smith, Ark., and VanVooren, from Bedford, Texas, are the first OC runners to earn Academic All-District recognition since
Aubree Hughes did so in 2017. Before that, OC's previous honorees came in 2012, when Cady Block, Melyssa Cardenas,
Roz Hamilton and
Erin Sesemann made the elite list.
Starting with OC Athletic Hall of Famer Kathy (Nelson) Belcoff in 1997 and 1998, 14 OC runners have received the Academic All-District honor a total of 16 times. The CoSIDA honor recognizes student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom and is considered one of the most prestigious in collegiate athletics.
To qualify for the honor, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.3 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, have reached sophomore status athletically, have legitimate athletic credentials and have been at the nominating institution at least one calendar year.
The Academic All-District awards are divided into eight geographic districts and four divisions. OC student-athletes compete for awards against their counterparts from other Division II schools. District 6 includes universities that are members of the Heartland, Rocky Mountain Athletic and Lone Star Conferences – a total of 35 schools. Sports information directors from those universities vote for the Academic All-District team.
The RMAC dominated the District 6 Academic All-District awards for both men and women, as VanVooren and Meyers were the only two honorees from outside that league. OC competes in the Great American Conference in track and field and the Heartland Conference in cross country, a sport in which Meyers participated, along with track.
Meyers, a Nursing major, graduated last month with a 3.98 GPA. She earned All-GAC second-team honors in the indoor distance medley relay (13:01.52) and was on the relay team that set the OC record of 12:30.39 in the outdoor DMR.
She made the Heartland Academic Honor Roll's President's List all eight semesters of her career and was a two-time GAC Distinguished Scholar. She soon will be a three-time recipient of the GAC Academic All-Conference honor and the Division II Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award.
Meyers' husband, Sawyer Pehkonen, earned Academic All-District and Academic All-America honors last year after his senior season of track and field.
VanVooren, an Elementary Education major, graduated last month with a 3.96 GPA. She was a four-time All-GAC second-team honoree, earning recognition in the outdoor 400 meters (2017, 2019), the outdoor 4x400-meter relay (2018) and the indoor DMR (2019).
She made the Heartland Honor Roll President's List in all five semesters in which she was eligible and was a two-time GAC Distinguished Scholar. Like Meyers, she also soon will receive her third GAC Academic All-Conference honor and third Division II Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award.
VanVooren ended her career as the holder of seven school records – the individual indoor 600 meters (1:35.51) and as part of six relay teams – the indoor DMR and 4x800-meter relays and the outdoor DMR, 4x800, 4x400 and sprint medley relays.
VanVooren and Meyers now will be on the ballot for the CoSIDA Academic All-America Track and Field/Cross Country team, which will be selected later this month by a national committee of sports information directors. OC has had four Academic All-Americans in those sports – Belcoff in 1998, Charlotte Heron in 2009 and Sesemann and Block in 2012.
