Alberts and Harmon Earn Second-Team Academic All-District VII

St. Louis, Mo., June 4, 2009 – Senior Alli Alberts of the Washington University women’s track and field team and sophomore Ben Harmon of the men’s track and field team, each earned 2009 ESPN the Magazine Second-Team Academic All-District VII Honors, as announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

To be eligible for Academic All-District honors, a student-athlete must be in at least their second season of collegiate competition and boast a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.30.

Alberts, a biology and anthropology double major with a 3.68 GPA, earned a pair of All-America finishes at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Marietta, Ohio, to help propel the Washington U. women’s track and field squad to a fifth-place overall finish, marking the highest NCAA outdoor finish in school history.

Alberts was the runner-up in the heptathlon at the NCAA outdoor meet, tallying 4,853 points over two days to fall just 27 points shy of her school-record mark of 4,880, set in 2007. She set a new school record in the javelin during the heptathlon with a distance of 41.21 meters. Alberts was also a member of the Bears’ fourth-place 4x400-meter relay squad, teaming with seniors Krystyn Stowe, Erika Wade and Danielle Wadlington to submit a time of 3:48.28. She qualified to compete in the pentathlon at the 2009 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships, where she placed 11th, and she helped the WU women’s track and field team sweep the 2009 UAA indoor and outdoor championships.

Harmon was a two-time All-America honoree in 2009, placing third in the pentathlon at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, and coming in fourth in the decathlon at the outdoor championship meet. It was the second year in a row Harmon earned All-America honors in the decathlon, placing fifth in the event at a freshman in 2008.

With three all-time personal best performances in the decathlon, 11.36 in the 100-meter dash, 50.02 in the 400-meter dash and 4.65 meters in the pole vault, Harmon tallied a personal record 6,811 points at the NCAA Championship Meet. He was also named the 2009 University Athletic Association (UAA) Outdoor Track and Field Men’s Most Outstanding Performer in the Field Events, winning the pole vault and the long jump at the UAA Championship Meet to help the WU men’s team grab its first UAA outdoor title since 2006. Harmon is a mechanical engineering major with a 3.36 GPA.