NEW ORLEANS – Two Eastern Kentucky University track and field student-athletes – Ann Eason and Ole Hesselbjerg – earned U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honors for the 2013-14 season.
To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team, a student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or better and met one of the following criteria: for the indoor season, finished the regular season ranked in the national top 96 in an individual event or ranked in the national top 48 (collective listing) in a relay event on the official NCAA POP list provided by TFRRS.org; for the outdoor season, participated in any round of the NCAA Division I Championships (including preliminary rounds).
The EKU women’s track and field teams was also named a USTFCCCA All-Academic Team by the organization. The EKU women – who posted a 3.23 GPA this past year – were one of 208 teams nationally to earn All-Academic Team honors. A team must have maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better to receive the award.
Eason, an elementary education major from Lexington, was named the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Female Track Athlete of the Year and won both the 5,000 meters and 1,500 meters at the OVC Outdoor Championships. She also broke EKU’s 36-year old women’s 5,000 meters record with a 16:03.87 at the Stanford Invitational. Eason currently has a 3.97 cumulative GPA.
Hesselbjerg, a physics major from Charlottenlund, Denmark, earned first team All-America honors for the second straight season and became EKU’s first NCAA track medalist since 2008 when he finished third in the finals of the men’s 3,000-meter steeplecase at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon. He posted a personal-best time of 8:38.75 during the performance. Hesselbjerg currently has a 3.30 cumulative GPA.
