June 2, 2015 BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Women's soccer forward Catherine Miles and men's cross country and track & field runner Nathan Richards are the respective Western Washington University Female and Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year for 2014-15. The announcement was made Tuesday, June 2, at the sixth annual Dub-Dub-Blue awards ceremony held on the WWU campus.

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

Miles and Richards were each first-team College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) College Division District 8 Academic All-Stars. They also received Division II Athletics Directors Association Academic Achievement Awards last summer. Miles, a junior from Anacortes (graduate of Anacortes High School), is a chemistry major with a 3.68 (4.0 scale) grade point average.

Miles was a Great Northwest Athletic Conference academic all-star for the second straight year. She earned second-team Daktronics and National Soccer Coaches Association of America West Region recognition and first-team GNAC all-star honors, scoring a team-leading eight goals in helping the Vikings to a 16-1-4 record, the GNAC regular-season title, No.17 in the final NSCAA Top 25 Poll and the second round of the NCAA II national tournament.

As a sophomore in 2013 on a 20-2-1 squad that reached the national semifinals, Miles scored 15 goals and received Daktronics All-America honorable mention. She was a third-team CoSIDA Academic All-American and first-team District 8 academic all-star. In 2012, Miles was the GNAC Freshman of the Year on a 19-4-0 team. She had a team-leading seven assists and tied for the team lead in goals with nine.

During her three-year career, Miles already is tied for fifth among WWU leaders in goals with 32 and is eighth in points with 74.

Richards, a junior from Longview (graduate of R.A. Long High School), is a biology and anthropology major with a 3.58 GPA. He earned GNAC academic all-star honors in both track and cross country for the second time.

Richards placed 94th at the NCAA II National Cross Country Championships last fall as the Vikings finished 13th in the team standings, and helped WWU to a fourth straight title in outdoor track, competing in the 10,000 meters. He also lettered in indoor track.

After transferring from Clark CC, Richards was the 2013 GNAC Newcomer of the Year in cross country, earning conference and regional all-star honors that season.

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 Zackery, football2010 Alex Harrison, track2011 Xavier Dailly, golf2012 Alex Harrison, track2013 Chris Mitchell, basketball2014 Andrew Weishaar, soccer2015 Nathan Richards, track/cross country
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, rowing2013 Kristin Maris, soccer2014 Kristin Maris, soccer2015 Catherine Miles, soccer