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Cardenas and Sanderson Earn Verizon Academic All-America? Honors
6/20/2002 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
June 20, 2002
Tulsa, Okla. - Two runners from The University of Tulsa women's track and field team were among 16 student-athletes named to the Verizon Academic All-America? First Team. Seniors Debbie Cardenas and Charlotte Sanderson combined success on the track with success in the classroom to earn a spot on the squad. TU was one of two schools to have a pair of runners with 4.00 grade point averages.
An accounting major from Jefferson City, Mo., Cardenas also helped lead the Hurricane to victory at the WAC Cross Country Championships. She scored in all seven meets for TU this season as one of the top three runners. Cardenas won the 3,000-meter run at the 2002 WAC Indoor Championships and finished sixth in the 5,000-meter run at the WAC Outdoor Championships this year. A four-time All-WAC academic selection, Cardenas won TU's Warren Garrison Award for Academic Excellence this year for having the highest GPA of all TU student athletes.
Sanderson, a biology major from York, England, helped lead the cross country team to the school's first ever WAC title in 2001, finishing fourth at the conference championships in Hawaii. She led the team in all seven meets this season, winning the Hurricane Festival to start the year. Sanderson finished second in the 10,000-meter run at the WAC Outdoor Championships and finished third in the 5,000-meter run at the WAC Indoor Championships this season.
To be eligible for the Verizon Academic All-District team, a member must have a 3.25 grade point average, been at the school for one academic year and be a starter or key reserve. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Verizon Academic All-America program, which was founded by the College Sports Information Directors of America in 1952 to recognize collegiate student-athletes for their outstanding achievements in the classroom and on the playing field. Over the past 50 years, the Verizon Academic All-America program has grown into one of the most recognized and prestigious collegiate scholar-athlete awards nationwide, honoring student-athletes from all NCAA championship sports. The teams are selected by a vote of the 1,800-members of CoSIDA.
