Three Ohio Valley Conference female track and field student-athletes have been named to the prestigious ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team as selected by CoSIDA.
The three selections were Carrie Burggraf of Austin Peay (second-team), Lesley Binning of Jacksonville State (second-team) and Amy Warren of Southeast Missouri (third-team).
Overall the OVC has had 179 student-athletes earn Academic All-America honors since 1970.
The pole vaulter Burgraff was ranked 18th at NCAA Track and Field Midwest Regional, May 29, with her OVC and school record jump of 3.96 meters (13-00.00) at the Cedarville Invitational, May 8. Burggraf posted a height of 3.81m (12-06.00) to finish 18th. She also recently was awarded the Ohio Valley Conference’s Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award.An OVC Medal of Honor recipient and Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection, she was one of just six OVC Scholar-Athletes this past Fall. With her 4.00 GPA as a political science major with a minor in history and English writing, Burggraf has been named to the Austin Peay President’s List and Athletics Directors Honor Roll every semester of her college career. Burggraf recently was named APSU’s co-recipient of Scholar-Athlete Award for owning APSU’s highest grade-point average. She also was named co-recipient of the Perkins Freeman/Governors Club Academic Achievement Scholarship for owning the highest GPA (4.0) for a rising senior. She is an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America nominee after earning Academic All-District a year ago, she twice has been named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll. She also is a United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic selection. She also was a “Red Mud Review” poetry prize winner, including for best poem. For being in the Top 15% of her class, Burggraf is a member of Gamma Beta Phi, as well as being in the Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society and the Founder’s Circle of the Pre-Law Society. She is also in the History Club, a member of the Campus Safety Committee and served as a Disability Services note-taker. Last summer Burggraf was chosen for the Peace Program Internship at the Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta, which is considered one of the “Top 109 Internships in the United States” by the Princeton Review. While there, she edited and compiled a weekly 20-30 page weekly “Peace Program Update.” She also monitored Ghana and Nigeria news and prepared political updates for Ghana Briefing Book in preparation for registration and election process. During the year Burggraf captured both the OVC Indoor and Outdoor Championship in the pole vault, marking the second straight season she had claimed the Outdoor crown. During this year’s Indoor Championship, she vaulted 12 feet, breaking the Austin Peay record and tying the OVC mark. At the Outdoor Meet Burggraf broke her own OVC record in winning the championship by nearly a foot. She recently set the OVC outdoor record (13 feet) recently at a meet in Ohio.
Binning was a four-year member of the JSU cross country and track and field programs and was the team’s top distance runner. With the track and field team, Binning has been an All-OVC selection in 2007 and 2008. She placed third in the 10,000 meters at the 2008 OVC Outdoor Championships after finishing seventh in the 5,000 meters at the Indoor Championships. She also had fourth-place finishes in the 5,000 meters at the 2006 Indoor Championship as well as the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the 2006 Outdoor Championship. The Ontario, Canada, native holds the Jax State records in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters in indoor competition and the 5,000 meters in outdoor track and field. In four years with the Gamecocks cross country squad, she set program records for both 5K and 6K distances. In the classroom, Binning has a perfect 4.00 grade point average in exercise science/wellness, health and physical education. She received the OVC Scholar Athlete of the Year Award for the 2007-08 year and has been a recipient of the OVC Medal of Honor three times, the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll three times and the JSU President’s List three times. Binning was a member of JSU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee s as well as the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Club, where she was Co-President in Spring 2008.
Warren is a four-time recipient of the OVC Medal of Honor, as well as being a four-time member of the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll. The four-time Southeast Scholar Athlete was one of 318 undergraduate students in the 136 years of the university to graduate with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Warren was also one of 20 graduating students from Southeast Missouri State honored as Honor Scholars, and she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double major in Communication Disorders and Spanish. On the track, Warren finished fourth in the 10,000 meters and 11th in the 5000 meters at 2009 OVC Outdoor Championships. She also finished sixth in the 5000 meters and ninth in the 3000 meters at 2009 OVC Indoor Championships. She is a four-time letterwinner as a distance runner for the women’s track team. In 2006, she helped the women’s team to the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championship. Warren also lettered as a member of the Redhawks cross country team. This past fall, she placed 19th at the OVC Cross Country Championships.