RELEASED:  Tuesday, May 5, 2009

UW-Eau Claire’s Kooistra Claims Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete Award

MADISON, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Liz Kooistra has been named the 2009 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Judy Kruckman Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete.

A senior from Lakeville, Minn., Kooistra is majoring in psychology with an emphasis in behavior analysis and a minor in Spanish.  She is a three-time member of the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll and has been recognized on UW-Eau Claire’s Chancellor’s List numerous semesters.  In 2008, she received an academic scholarship from the U.S. Department of Education McNair Achievement Program.

A team captain this season, Kooistra has won consecutive WIAC outdoor titles in the 400-meter dash and was a member of the victorious 4x400-meter relay team at this year’s WIAC championship.  She is a two-time outdoor All-American in the 400-meter dash, finishing fourth at the NCAA Division III championship in 2008 and eighth in 2006.  Kooistra holds the Blugold outdoor record in the 400-meter dash.

She is a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis, American Psychological Association, Mid-American Association for Behavior Analysis, Behavioral Science Research Group, as well as UW-Eau Claire’s Student Services Advisory Board.  Kooistra becomes the eighth Blugold to claim the conference’s women’s outdoor track and field scholar-athlete honor.

Additional nominees for this year’s scholar-athlete honor included:  UW-La Crosse's Katie Fondow (Sr., Green Bay, Wis./West), Michelle Horn (Sr., Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North), Maggie Leyendecker (Sr., Iowa City, Iowa/City High), Danica Schaefer (Sr., Waukesha, Wis./West), Caitlin Schetter (Sr., Kiel, Wis.) and Jamie Scott (Sr., Rosholt, Wis.), UW-Oshkosh's Ayla Mitchell (Sr., New Richmond, Wis.), UW-Platteville's Alison Glendenning (Sr., German Valley, Ill./Forreston) and Jessica Scott (Sr., Kiel, Wis.), UW-Stevens Point's Ann Burhop (Sr., Hartford, Wis./Martin Luther), Michele Holzer (Sr., Elmhurst, Ill.) and Ashley Woest (Sr., Abrams, Wis./Pulaski) and UW-Stout's Kelly Schachtner (Sr. Deer Park, Wis./Clear Lake) and Pam Sellberg (Sr., Brooklyn Park, Minn./Park Center).

The WIAC Scholar-Athlete Award is named after Judy Kruckman who served as Assistant Commissioner for the WIAC from 1996-98.  Prior to this appointment, she functioned as Commissioner of the Wisconsin Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from October, 1984 - September, 1996.

In order to be nominated for the scholar-athlete award, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.25 grade point average, be in their last year of competition, or on schedule to graduate this academic year, and have competed for a minimum of two years.