RELEASED:  Tuesday, October 30, 2007

UW-Whitewater’s Pick Named Women’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete

Madison, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Ashley Pick has been named the 2007 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Judy Kruckman Women’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete.

Pick, a senior from Monroe, Wis., is majoring in accounting and boasts a 4.00 grade point average.  She was named to the 2006 United States Track & Field & Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division III All-Academic Team.  A three-time WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll member, Pick has been recognized on UW-Whitewater’s Dean’s List and earned the school’s Student-Athlete Achievement Award and Academic Honors.  She has received numerous academic scholarships from her institution.

Pick finished 38th overall at the WIAC championship this year and claimed her school’s Marty Van Steenderen Sportswoman of the Year in the fall of 2006.

She is a member of the Phi Eta Sigma, Beta Gamma Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi and Golden Key National Honor Societies.  Pick currently serves on her institution’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, while also volunteering for “Reading with the Warhawks” and a nursing home visitation program.  For the last three years, she has worked as an assistant in UW-Whitewater’s Budget Office.

Pick is the fourth UW-Whitewater women’s cross country student-athlete to secure the league award, joining Lisa Barman (1994), Melissa Lutz (2003) and Megan Kielar (2005).

Also nominated for this year’s scholar-athlete honor were:  UW-Eau Claire’s Amber Hertz (Sr., Baraboo, Wis.), UW-La Crosse’s Kristen Howe (Sr., Forest Lake, Minn.), Melissa Palmer (Sr., Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska), Angela Reed (Sr., Brookfield, Wis./East) and Emily Watson (Sr., Milton, Wis.), UW-Oshkosh’s Whitney Langer (Sr., New Richmond, Wis./Somerset), Jennifer Melville (Sr., Waukesha, Wis./West) and Toni Morning (Sr., Colfax, Wis.), UW-Platteville’s Lindsey Vick (Sr., Cottage Grove, Wis./Abundant Life), UW-River Falls’ Stacy Dekkers (Jr., Fairmont, Minn.), UW-Stevens Point’s Hannah Dieringer (Sr., Spencer, Wis.), UW-Stout’s Bridgette Crozier (Sr., Winona, Minn./Cotter) and Abbey Ring (Sr., Manitowoc, Wis./Lutheran) and UW-Whitewater’s Jennifer Rogers (Sr., Fort Atkinson).

The WIAC Scholar-Athlete Award is named after Judy Kruckman and sponsored by Hewlett-Packard.  Kruckman served as Assistant Commissioner for the WIAC from 1996-98.  Prior to this appointment, she functioned as Commissioner of the Wisconsin Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from October, 1984 - September, 1996.

In order to be nominated for the scholar-athlete award, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.25 grade point average, be in their last year of competition, or on schedule to graduate this academic year, and have competed for a minimum of two years.