May 29, 2012

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Track and field athlete Alex Harrison and rower Megan Northey are the respective Western Washington University Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year for 2011-12. The announcement was made Tuesday at the third annual Dub-Dub-Blue awards ceremony.

The scholar-athlete awards, which have been handed out since 1999, recognize WWU student-athletes who best demonstrate excellence both in competition and in the classroom.

Harrison, a senior from Edmonds (graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School) is maintaining a 3.85 grade point average (4.0 scale). He placed seventh in the decathlon last week at the NCAA Division II National Championships to earn United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-America recognition.

Harrison also received the 2009-10 WWU Scholar-Athlete award before missing the next season with a hamstring injury. He earned a bachelor's degree in kinesiology in the spring of 2011.

A three-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference academic all-star, Harrison bettered his school records in both the decathlon with 6,772 points and javelin with a mark of 214-7.

Harrison was the GNAC decathlon champion for the second time, posting a meet record point total of 6,598. He also won that 10-event test at the league meet in 2010 as well as placing first in the javelin.

Northey, a kinesiology major from Brier (graduate of King's High School) with a 3.92 GPA, was captain of a WWU squad that placed second in both the team standings and varsity eight competition at nationals.

A Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association National Scholar-Athlete and first-team CRCA DII Pocock All-America, Northey is on the ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors after being a first-team All-District 8 At-Large honoree.

Northey manned the No.7 seat in helping the Vikings' eight to a gold medal winning performance in DII competition for the third time at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship Regatta. She was a Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference academic all-star for the third time this year and received NCRC all-star rowing honors.

During her four-year career, Northey was on three national championship teams and rowed in national title-winning eights in 2009 and 2011.

At nationals last week, Northey received the Elite 89 Award, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest GPA among those competing at that championship. She is the first WWU student-athlete to earn that honor in any sport.

WWU SCHOLAR ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

MALE

1999 Erik Meyer, track
2000 Marty Juergens, football
2001 Erik Totten, football
2002 Erik Totten, football
2003 Greg Dykstra, football
2004 Rob White, football
2005 Rob White, football
2006 Scott Romney, track
2007 Keith Lemay, track
2008 Keith Lemay, track/cross country
2009 Anthony Zachery, football
2010 Alex Harrison, track
2011 Xavier Dailly, golf
2012 Alex Harrison, track

FEMALE

1999 Sarah Hiss, track
2000 Sarah Hiss, track
2001 Kelsi Griswald, rowing
2002 Liz Bishop, volleyball
2003 Liz Bishop, volleyball
2004 Liz Bishop, volleyball
2005 Jodi Gerald, basketball
     Meghan Evoy, volleyball
2006 Jessica Telleria, track
2007 Audrey Coon, rowing
2008 Audrey Coon, rowing
2009 Audrey Coon, rowing
2010 Casey Mapes, rowing
2011 Katie Sharpe, golf
2012 Megan Northey, rowing