RELEASED:  Monday, May 7, 2007

UW-Eau Claire’s Faller Claims Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete Award

Madison, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Liz Faller has been named the 2007 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Judy Kruckman Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete.

Faller, a senior from Marinette, Wis., boasts a 3.96 grade point average and is majoring in kinesiology - physical education teaching.  She is a two-time member of the CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Five College Division Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country Second Team.  Faller has been named to her institution’s Dean’s List every semester and has been recognized on the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll the last two seasons.

She is a two-time All-American, placing fourth in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA Division III Championship last season and was a member of the seventh-place 4x400-meter relay team in 2005.   Faller won the conference title in the 100-meter hurdles in 2006.  She was named her team’s MVP in 2006 and the co-rookie of the year in 2005.

Faller is a member of the Wisconsin Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and Students for Health, Adventure and Physical Education.  She has volunteered at a community learning center and worked for the Eau Claire Area School District Jogathon the last two years.

Additional nominees for this year’s scholar-athlete award included:  UW-Eau Claire’s Shalene Huth (Sr., Appleton, Wis./West) and Christina Locke (Sr., Racine, Wis./Horlick), UW-La Crosse’s Brenna Anderson (Sr., Lancaster, Wis.), Christy Birkholz (Sr., Sun Prairie, Wis.), Emily Burns (Sr., Neenah, Wis.), Nikki Cahen (Sr., Waukesha, Wis./North), Jena Durnin (Sr., Evansville, Ind.), Meagan Herlache (Sr., Green Bay, Wis./East), Lindsay Leech (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), Emily Lewandowski (Jr., Madison, Wis./West), Beth Medinger (Sr., Onalaska, Wis./Holmen) and Kristen Painter (Sr., Blue Earth, Minn.), UW-Oshkosh’s Kristy Giljohann (Sr., Brookfield, Wis./Central), Jenny Graef (Sr., Lena, Wis.), Brigid Hamill (Sr., Brookfield, Wis./Central), Amanda Kozicki (Sr., Hales Corners, Wis./Whitnall), Nichole Pelischek (Sr., Two Rivers, Wis.) and Sarah Schettle (Sr., Oshkosh, Wis./West), UW-River Falls’ Jill Crandall (Sr., Roseville, Minn.), Holly Kromray (Sr., Minocqua, Wis./Lakeland) and Carrie Van Houten (Sr., Lake City, Minn./Lincoln), UW-Stevens Point’s Bethany Richter (Sr., Green Bay, Wis./Preble), UW-Stout’s Taylor Mayo (Jr., Iron River, Mich.), Rebecca Monyhan (Sr., Winona, Minn.) and Stephanie Nichols (Sr., Chetek, Wis.) and UW-Whitewater’s Abbie Brown (Sr., Hazel Green, Wis./Southwestern), Amanda Meyer (Sr., Jefferson, Wis.) and Mollie Zirbel (Sr., Wrightstown, Wis.).

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.