Friday, June 25, 2010

TOWSON, Md. - Campbell's Diana Norden and Belmont's Brittany Thune was named to the 2009-10 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Teams as announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Norden was also named First Team Academic All-District III this season after also taking the award as a junior. The May 2010 graduate is the first Campbell student-athlete to be named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Team.

A Nykoping, Sweden native, Norden was the first repeat all-district winner in school history after being named to the District III First Team last season as well. The cross country and track performer has carried a 4.0 grade point average (GPA) while majoring in chemistry through all four years at CU.

The senior's perfect GPA is one of only 13 on the entire women's Academic All-American roster, which carries 46 student-athletes over three teams.

In all, Norden was named Atlantic Sun Academic All-conference eight times during her career (XC 09-10, 08-09, 07-08, 06-07; TF 09-10, 08-09, 07-08, 06-07), out of a possible eight semesters of competition.

During her senior track season, Norden set five personal records, and collected an indoor best finish of seventh in the 5000 meters at the Liberty Open. During her outdoor campaign, Norden notched four top-10 and two top-five finishes, collecting a runner-up finish in the 5000 meters at the Liberty Twilight. Norden also notched a fifth place finish in the 1500 meter run at the USC Upstate Invite with a personal best time.

Norden is the 16th Camel to earn Academic All-American honors since 1988, when Kenneth Cox, a standout pitcher on the baseball team, earned third team accolades. Karlie Love from the softball team was the most recent CU student-athlete to make the list, earning second team honors in 2009.

Thune becomes the first cross country/track and field athlete, male or female, and only the ninth Belmont student-athlete on any athletic team to garner the recognition. She also becomes only the second female student-athlete in school history to receive the award.

Thune recently received three of the Atlantic Sun's most prestigious awards - Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the Postgraduate Scholarship and the league's nod for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

Earning the A-Sun Runner of the Year nod for second-consecutive year, Thune came away with the individual title last fall with a time of 17:17, marking the conference's fastest time since 2005 and the third-best league finish ever. She received All-Conference honors in each of her four seasons, including Freshman of the Year in 2006, and helped lead the Bruins to dominate the league winning three consecutive team championships (2006-2008). A three-time Atlantic Sun Runner of the Week, Thune was also a two-time NCAA cross country regional qualifier and a Division I South Region USTFCCC All-Region selection.

Thune graduated from Belmont last month with an overall GPA of 3.95 with a major in Business Administration and a minor in Political Science. She garnered A-Sun All-Academic honors eight times in her stellar career, as well as receiving the Presidential Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Graduating Senior Academic Achievement awards from the University. Thune also earned First Team Academic All-District honors from CoSIDA and ESPN The Magazine this year, becoming only the fifth Belmont women's cross country and track runner to be selected in program history.

To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.

Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 15,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.