Junior Liz Phillips Named NCAA Division III Indoor Track Elite 88 Winner

Columbus, Ohio, March 10, 2011 — Junior distance runner Liz Phillips of the Washington University in St. Louis women’s indoor track and field team was named the women’s track and field Elite 88 winner at the 2010 NCAA Division III Track and Field Championship banquet on Thursday, March 10.

The Elite 88, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level, while also achieving the highest academic standard among their peers. The Elite 88 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 88 championships.

Phillips, who qualified for the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships as a member of the Bears’ school-record breaking distance medley relay team, wins the Elite 88 award for the second time in her career; she also garnered indoor track and field Elite 88 honors in 2010. Phillips has a 4.0 grade point average while majoring in biomedical engineering.

Phillips will be looking to earn All-America accolades in the distance medley relay for the second time in her career. She was an All-American as a freshman when the Bears’ DMR team placed eighth. Washington University is seeded first heading into Friday night’s championship with a time of 11:48.98.

The 2011 NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships will be held Friday-Saturday, March 11-12, on the campus of Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.