June 23, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame junior Stacey Cowan (Ferndale, Wash./Ferndale HS) has been named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country Team, it was announced Thursday. Cowan earned third-team honors, making her the fourth Irish women’s track athlete to garner Academic All-America laurels and the 13th Notre Dame track athlete (men’s or women’s) to be recognized as an Academic All-American.
Cowan picked up all-BIG EAST Conference honors in three events this year, placing second in the high jump at both the BIG EAST Indoor and Outdoor Championships, as well finishing third in the pentathlon at the conference indoor meet. She also qualified for both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the high jump, but did not advance to the finals in either competition. In addition, Cowan tied her outdoor career best in the high jump with a leap of 1.78 meters (5-10) at the Stanford Invitational on March 26.
Cowan currently is enrolled in the College of Science at Notre Dame with a 3.78 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) as a pre-professional studies major. She was among a group of 45 women’s track student-athletes to be selected for this year’s Academic All-America Team, which was voted upon by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). To be eligible, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average (GPA), must be a starter or important reserve and be in at least their second season of athletic and academic eligibility at their current school.
Cowan is the sixth Notre Dame student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors in 2004-05. All told, Notre Dame now has produced 158 Academic All-Americans since the program began in 1952.
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2004-05 NOTRE DAME ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA SELECTIONS
Kelli Barton (Sr./Scottsdale, Ariz./Women’s Swimming/Second Team At-Large)
Erika Bohn (Jr./Brookfield, Conn./Women’s Soccer/First Team)
Stacey Cowan (Jr./Ferndale, Wash./Women’s Track and Field/Third Team)
Todd Mobley (Sr./West Bloomfield, Mich./Men’s Track and Field/First Team)
Sean O’Donnell (Sr./Kansas City, Mo./Men’s Track and Field/Third Team)
Annie Schefter (Jr./Yakima, Wash./Women’s Soccer/Second Team)