May 29, 2012

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Track and field athlete Alex Harrison and rower Megan Northey are the respective Western Washington University Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year for 2011-12. The announcement was made Tuesday at the third annual Dub-Dub-Blue awards ceremony.

The scholar-athlete awards, which have been handed out since 1999, recognize WWU student-athletes who best demonstrate excellence both in competition and in the classroom.

Harrison, a senior from Edmonds (graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School) is maintaining a 3.85 grade point average (4.0 scale). He placed seventh in the decathlon last week at the NCAA Division II National Championships to earn United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-America recognition.

Harrison also received the 2009-10 WWU Scholar-Athlete award before missing the next season with a hamstring injury. He earned a bachelor's degree in kinesiology in the spring of 2011.

A three-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference academic all-star, Harrison bettered his school records in both the decathlon with 6,772 points and javelin with a mark of 214-7.

Harrison was the GNAC decathlon champion for the second time, posting a meet record point total of 6,598. He also won that 10-event test at the league meet in 2010 as well as placing first in the javelin.

Northey, a kinesiology major from Brier (graduate of King's High School) with a 3.92 GPA, was captain of a WWU squad that placed second in both the team standings and varsity eight competition at nationals.

A Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association National Scholar-Athlete and first-team CRCA DII Pocock All-America, Northey is on the ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors after being a first-team All-District 8 At-Large honoree.

Northey manned the No.7 seat in helping the Vikings' eight to a gold medal winning performance in DII competition for the third time at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship Regatta. She was a Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference academic all-star for the third time this year and received NCRC all-star rowing honors.

During her four-year career, Northey was on three national championship teams and rowed in national title-winning eights in 2009 and 2011.

At nationals last week, Northey received the Elite 89 Award, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest GPA among those competing at that championship. She is the first WWU student-athlete to earn that honor in any sport.

WWU SCHOLAR ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

MALE

1999 Erik Meyer, track2000 Marty Juergens, football2001 Erik Totten, football2002 Erik Totten, football2003 Greg Dykstra, football2004 Rob White, football2005 Rob White, football2006 Scott Romney, track2007 Keith Lemay, track2008 Keith Lemay, track/cross country2009 Anthony Zachery, football2010 Alex Harrison, track2011 Xavier Dailly, golf2012 Alex Harrison, track

FEMALE

1999 Sarah Hiss, track2000 Sarah Hiss, track2001 Kelsi Griswald, rowing2002 Liz Bishop, volleyball2003 Liz Bishop, volleyball2004 Liz Bishop, volleyball2005 Jodi Gerald, basketball     Meghan Evoy, volleyball2006 Jessica Telleria, track2007 Audrey Coon, rowing2008 Audrey Coon, rowing2009 Audrey Coon, rowing2010 Casey Mapes, rowing2011 Katie Sharpe, golf2012 Megan Northey, rowing