Rock All-America pole vaulter Jennifer Hansen added another illustrious honor to her collection Thursday when she was named as the female winner of the 2007-08 PSAC Pete Nevins Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.
The honor, awarded to the top female and male student-athlete in the conference as selected by the conference's sports information directors, came approximately two weeks after Hansen earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All–America® first-team status from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
A junior from Charleston, W. Va., Hansen currently owns a perfect 4.0 grade point average as an elementary education major at SRU and has earned four U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-America citations.
She became a candidate for the Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor by virtue of being named as a recipient of a PSAC Top Ten Award in both the winter and spring sports seasons. She also received a Top Ten Award in the spring of 2007.
In athletic competition, Hansen was the national runner-up in the 2007 NCAA Division II outdoor championships, placed third in both the 2008 indoor and outdoor national meets and finished 11th in the 2006 outdoor competition.
She was named in March as the 2008 USTFCCCA indoor East Region Field Athlete of Year as well as the PSAC indoor Field MVP. The owner of the PSAC all-time and Championship records in both indoor and outdoor competition, she is the two-time defending conference champion in both indoor and outdoor competitions and was named as the 2007 and 2008 PSAC Championships indoor Field MVP.
Hansen has also collected a second-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All–District® citation in 2007.and three U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association all-academic awards.
Hansen was the sixth Rock student-athlete to be selected as the PSAC's top student-athlete, the third Rock female to earn the honor and the first Rock student-athlete to be honored since Karyn McCready won the award in the 2003-04 academic year.
Prior to McCready, PSAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors were received by Mark Metzka (1994-95, men's basketball), Lori Robinson (1995-96, women's basketball), Dave Sabolcik (1997-98, football) and Tim Kusniez (1999-2000, football).
Hansen was the third Rock student-athlete to receive first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America status during the 2007-08 academic year. She joined football student-athletes Mike Butterworth and Clint Forsha on the elite level of College Division student-athletes.
She is the 18th Rock student-athlete to earn Academic All–America® first-team honors since 1971 and the sixth since 2000.
The Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Academic All–America® and Top Ten Awards all recognize student-athletes who distinguish themselves in the classroom as well as the arena of competition. To tbe a candidate for the honors, a student-athlete must have achieved a minimum of a 3.25 cumulative grade point average and be a starter or key reserve with legitimate athletic credentials.
The PSAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is in its 18th year of existence and was renamed last year to honor longtime East Stroudsburg sports information director Pete Nevins, who passed away in January of 2007.
