Liz Phillips and Taryn Surtees Earn Capital One Academic All-District Honors

St. Louis, Mo., June 2, 2011 — Junior Liz Phillips and senior Taryn Surtees of the Washington University in St. Louis women’s cross country and track & field teams earned Capital One Academic All-District VII honors, it was announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA).

Phillips earns first-team Academic All-District accolades for the second year in a row, while Surtees is named second-team Academic All-District for the second-straight season. As a first-team honoree, Phillips is now eligible for Academic All-America consideration. The 2011 Capital One Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-Americans will be revealed on Thursday, June 23.

In order to be selected to an academic all-district team, a student-athlete must demonstrate success on the playing field and in the classroom, with academic and athletic achievements taken into consideration. The student-athlete must possess a minimum 3.30 cumulative grade point average and be at least a sophomore in academic standing.

A biomedical engineering major with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average, Phillips was a three-time All-American in 2011 while helping the women’s cross country team pick up a national runner-up finish at the 2010 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships with a 23rd-place showing.

She was a member of the Bears’ second-place distance medley relay team at the 2011 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships, where she was recognized as the NCAA Elite 88 winner, awarded to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at championship competition. Phillips also picked up a pair of All-America finishes at the 2011 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships last weekend in Delaware, Ohio.

She placed sixth in the 1,500-meter and 800-meter races at the outdoor meet, capturing individual All-America honors for the first time in her career.

Surtees, who graduated on May 20 with a 3.81 cumulative grade point average while majoring in biology and Spanish, led the women’s cross country team to a school-record second-place team finish at the NCAA Championships with an eighth-place individual finish, the highest of her career. She was also a cross country All-American in 2008 (30th) and 2009 (20th).

Surtees earned 2010 NCAA All-Midwest honors in cross country for placing ninth at the Division III Regional Championship and won the 10,000-meter at the 2011 University Athletic Association (UAA) Outdoor Championships. She ends her career as an eight-time All-American, having earned the distinction six times on the track: twice in the distance medley relay (2008 and 2009), twice in the 10,000-meter (2009 and 2010) and once in the 5,000-meter (2009).