FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-136-03-04
Friday, June 4, 2004

Elizabethtown Junior Melissa St. Clair and Senior Carrie Kerna Named to CoSIDA Academic All-District II College Division Women's Track & Field and Cross Country Teams

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Two Elizabethtown College women's track & field athletes have been named to the 2003-04 CoSIDA Academic All-District II College Division Women's Track & Field and Cross Country Teams. Junior distance runner Melissa St. Clair (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg) earned a spot on the Academic All-District First Team, while senior hurdler Carrie Kerna (McMurray, PA/Peters Twp.) was named to the Academic All-District Second Team. The two are the first Elizabethtown women's track & field athletes ever to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District recognition, and St. Clair, by making the first team, moves on the national Academic All-America ballot.

St. Clair is majoring in communications at Elizabethtown College. Over the course of the 2003-04 academic year, she became the first Blue Jay athlete in any combination of sports to earn All-America honors in all three seasons. She finished 34th as an individual at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in November to earn All-America honors in the fall season. In March 2004, she finished third in the nation in the 5000m at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships to earn All-America honors in the winter season. In May 2004, she finished second in the nation in the 10,000m at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships to earn All-America honors in the spring season.

St. Clair was also a First Team All-MAC runner and an All-Mideast Region runner in cross country in 2003, and she was a MAC gold medalist in the indoor 4x800m relay, indoor distance medley relay, and in the outdoor 5000m in 2004. She was also a MAC silver medalist in the indoor 1500m and a MAC bronze medalist in the outdoor 5000m in 2004. At the 2003 MAC Indoor Championships, she took home gold medals in the 5000m and in the distance medley relay.

Kerna majored in engineering and physics at Elizabethtown. She earned All-America honors three times and finished as a national runner-up twice over the course of the 2004 track & field season. In March 2004, she finished second in the nation in the 55m high hurdles at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships to earn All-America honors for the first time in her career. She followed up that performance by finishing second in the nation in the 100m high hurdles and sixth in the nation in the 400m intermediate hurdles at the 2004 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in May to earn All-America honors in each of those events.

For four years, Kerna dominated the high hurdle events in the Middle Atlantic Conference, winning the MAC gold medal in both the indoor 55m high hurdles and the outdoor 100m high hurdles all four years of her collegiate career. She won more MAC gold medals (14) and more total MAC medals (22) than any other Etown track & field athlete, male or female, in the College's history. This year, she won MAC gold medals in the 55m hurdles, the indoor high jump, the indoor 4x400m relay, the 100m hurdles, and the 400m hurdles. She was also named the Most Valuable Performer of the 2004 MAC Indoor Championships.

The Elizabethtown College women's track & field team finished second out of 10 teams at the 2004 MAC Indoor Championships, its best finish ever, and third out of 10 teams at the MAC Outdoor Championships. The team also finished 13th in the nation in team scoring at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships and 15th in the nation in team scoring at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in the first times it ever scored team points at the NCAA Championships since the program achieved varsity status five years ago.

The Elizabethtown College women's cross country team finished third out of 13 teams, its best finish since 1995, at the 2003 MAC Championships, and it placed eighth out of 38 teams, its best finish ever, at the 2003 Mideast Regional Championships.

The District II College Division in the Academic All-America program consists of all non-NCAA Division I colleges and universities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

The members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) by districts select the Academic All-District Team, and the 10 first team selections in each district now move onto the national ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

To be nominated for the CoSIDA Academic All-America program, a student-athlete must be at leas a sophomore with a 3.2 or higher cumulative grade-point average and be a starter or significant reserve.