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Hello Cougar Fans and welcome to the A.D. Forum. Washington State University Director of Athletics Jim Sterk will post periodic entries on this page about topics regarding WSU Athletics.
July 14, 2009
As another great year of Cougar Athletics has concluded, I want to take a moment and recognize the tremendous achievements by our student-athletes in 2008-09.
Featured in a spring filled with many highlights was Jeshua Anderson defending his title in the 400 meter hurdles at the NCAA Track & Field Championships. Jeshua's accomplishments shine a spotlight on the entire WSU community, and it is something all Cougars can take a great deal of pride in.
Baseball earned a berth to the NCAA Championships, the first for the program since 1990, and soccer made its way to the NCAA postseason for the first time since 2002. Not only did soccer and baseball achieve on the field, they achieved in the classroom, too.
Soccer put together a cumulative GPA of 3.41 and 11 members of the team earned Pac-10 All-Academic honors and baseball had its best academic year ever, a 2.89 fall semester and a 2.86 spring semester, for a 2.875 average.
Three swimmers (Rugile Mileisyte, Michaela Ahlin and Elyse Peterson) advanced to the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history and in men's golf, Kevin Tucker earned a spot in the NCAA Regional Golf Championships, only the second Cougar to be selected to a regional championship.
With a berth to the NIT, men's basketball made its third postseason appearance in as many years for just the second time in school history. In addition, the program claimed four spots on the five-man Pac-10 All-Academic Team, the first time this has ever happened.
Taylor Rochestie (men's basketball) and Greg Lagreid (baseball) were named the Pac-10 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for their respective sports, marking the second straight year a student-athlete with these programs were bestowed with that honor (Robbie Cowgill and Jayson Miller earned the accolades for men's basketball and baseball, respectively last year).
Sara Trané was selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Women's Track & Field/ Cross Country national third team, the second consecutive year that this talented runner earned a national third-team honor.
Football captured the Apple Cup for the fourth time in the past five years and with 15 student-athletes represented, the program had the most ever selections to the Pac-10 All-Academic team.
The aforementioned academic achievements highlighted what all student-athletes accomplished as the group maintained a 3.01 cumulative GPA. For 10 consecutive semesters our student-athletes have averaged at least a 3.00 cumulative GPA.
Year in and year out, it is our goal to be competitive in the Pac-10 and nationally in each of our programs while continuing exemplary achievements in the classroom. I want to congratulate our student-athletes for their great accomplishments during the 2008-09 season and I look forward to what is ahead in 2009-10.
Go Cougs!
Jim Sterk
