June 17, 2009

SAN MARCOS, Texas - The Texas State women's track and field program earns six spots on the Southland Conference All-Academic team. Katie Evans, Heather Bullin, Tenley Determan, Jannah Evans, Jennifer Matthews and Mary Beth O'Connor all received honors for the women's team. Jarrod Buddin is the lone Bobcat to earn a spot on the men's side. Both all-academic teams were announced today by the league office.

Junior distance runner Heather Bullin holds a 3.92 cumulative grade point average, while majoring in Exercise and Sports Science with an emphasis in Pre-Physical Therapy Emphasis. Bullin earned a spot on the 2009 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA All-Academic District VI Second Team. She has been an Oak Farms Winner from 2006-2008 for carrying a 3.0 GPA or higher. She was named to the Dean's List six times and received Cream of the Crop honors for 4.0 GPA in 2006-2007. Bullin also was selected to the Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll in 2007-2008. On the track she grabbed sixth place in the 5,000 meters and fifth place in the 10,000 meters at SLC Outdoor Championships. She placed fifth at 2009 SLC Cross Country Championships with a time of 22:23 to garner All-SLC honors and was an NCAA XC South Central Regional participant, where she finished in 48th place.

Junior pole vaulter Jannah Evans has a 3.72 cumulative grade point average, as she is majoring in Exercise and Sports Science; with an All-Level Certification. Evans earned a spot on the 2009 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA All-Academic District VI Second Team. She was an Oak Farms Winner in 2006-2007 for a 3.0 GPA or higher. She has been named to the Dean's List four times and was a Cream of the Crop Winner for having a 4.0 GPA in 2007. Evans was named to Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll in 2007-2008. She finished 10th in the pole vault at SLC Outdoor Championships and holds a season-best height of 3.40 meters (11-01.75). She took ninth in the pole vault at SLC Indoors.

Junior multi competitor Katie Evans has a 3.55 cumulative grade point average with a major in International Studies. Evans earned a spot on the 2009 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA All-Academic District VI Second Team. She was an Oak Farms Winner for a 3.0 GPA or higher in 2007-2008. She has been named to the Dean's List five times and was a Cream of the Crop Winner for 4.0 GPA in 2008. Evans was named to the SLC Commissioner's Honor Roll in 2007-2008. She earned 2009 All-SLC honors in the high jump and heptathlon. She grabbed third place in the high jump and second place in the heptathlon at 2009 SLC Outdoor Championships. She was a 2009 NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifier and has qualified for the 2009 NCAA National Championships in the high jump that are to be held next week. She has a season-best height of 1.81 meters (5-11.25) in the high jump. Evans took eighth in the high jump at SLC Indoors with a height of 1.60 meters (5-03) and placed fifth in the pentathlon with a point total of 3,365.

Matthews, a graduate student at Texas State holds a 4.0 cumulative grade point average in agricultural education. She was a 2009 NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifier. Matthews won the 2009 Southland Conference Indoor and Outdoor Pole Vault crowns. She recorded a height of 3.85m (12-07.50) to claim the outdoor title and finished in the Top 5 in 2008 at both the SLC indoor and outdoor championships. She is an Oak Farms and Cream of the Crop Winner in 2008.

O'Connor holds a cumulative grade point average of 3.88 in communication studies. She has placed in the Top 5 in the hurdles at SLC Outdoors and had a season-best time in the 400 hurdles of 1:02.15 for the fourth best time in the SLC. She has placed in the Top 10 in the hurdles at SLC's for two straight years. O'Connor has been an Oak Farms and Cream of the Crop Winner since 2005. She has been named to the Dean's List seven times and has been a member of the Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll since 2006.

Determan graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Psychology in December. The distance runner was named to the Dean’s List seven times. She has been a recipient of the Oak Farms Academic Award since 2004 and has been a Cream of the Crop Winner since 2005. She was named to SLC Commissioner’s Honor Roll eight times in her Bobcat career and this is her third time being named to the Southland Conference women's cross country and track All-Academic Teams.

The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each Southland university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.

The 2009 Southland Conference Cross Country and Track and Field All-Academic Teams are comprised of student-athletes that competed in cross country, indoor track and field and/or outdoor track and field. Student-athletes earn automatic qualification onto the Southland Conference All-Academic Team if they maintain a GPA of 3.0 in addition to earning either first-team all-conference honors in any of the three seasons and/or a CoSIDA Academic All-District VI Selection.