June 1, 2010

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Alex Harrison, who led the men's outdoor track squad to a Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship and earned All-America honors in the javelin, and Casey Mapes, a member of the NCAA Division II national champion women's rowing team, are the respective Western Washington University Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year for 2009-10. The announcement was made Tuesday at the first Dub-Dub-Blue awards ceremony.

The awards, which have been handed out since 1999, recognize Viking student-athletes who best demonstrate excellence both on the playing field and in the classroom.

Harrison, a junior from Edmonds where he graduated from Edmonds-Woodway High School, was a GNAC academic all-star for the second straight year. A kinesiology major, he is maintaining a 3.89 (4.0 scale) grade point average.

"Alex puts in an enormous amount of time into his athletics and in the classroom," said Western track coach Pee Wee Halsell (23rd year). "His improvement over the last couple of years has been fun to see. It's nice to see he works just as hard in school."

Harrison placed fifth in the javelin at the NCAA II Outdoor National Championships with a mark of 200-9 and was 10th in the decathlon after entering the final event in seventh place.

Harrison won both the decathlon and javelin at the GNAC Championships, finishing with a team-best 24 points. His winning javelin toss at the meet was a school-record 208-5.

Mapes, a junior from Anchorage, Alaska where she attended Service High School, is a kinesiology major with a 3.90 GPA. She was recognized as a Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association National Scholar Athlete for the second straight year and was a Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference academic all-star and GNAC academic all-star, both for the second consecutive season.

Mapes was the No.3 seat in a varsity eight shell that placed second at the NCAA Division II National Championships, helping the Vikings to a sixth consecutive national team title.

"Casey is the epitome of what we're trying to do here," said Western rowing coach John Fuchs (12th year). "She's a great leader and will be our team captain next year."

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 Zackary, football
2010 Alex Harrison, track

FEMALE

1999 Sarah Hiss, track
2000 Sarah Hiss, track
2001 Kelsi Giswald, 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