June 4, 2009
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech junior distance runner Billy Mateker has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III track and field first team, which was announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Thursday afternoon. Senior thrower Alana Clooten and sophomore pole vaulters Joanna Wright and Erica Penk were named to the second team.
Mateker, who recently wrapped up his junior season on the Flats, carrying a 4.0 grade-point average in Materials Science Engineering, is now eligible for Academic All-America honors.
The junior from Lawrenceville, Ga., finished sixth at the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Championships in the 800 meters and ran a personal best time of 1:52.58 in the 800-meter qualifying round. He also placed second at the Georgia-Georgia Tech Dual Meet in April with an outdoor personal best of 1:53.87.
Wright, a sophomore from Winston-Salem, N.C., has a 3.81 grade-point average in biology while currently holding the outdoor school record in the pole vault. She recently became the first women’s track and field student-athlete in program history to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the pole vault. She placed fourth at the NCAA East Region Championships with the record clearance of 13’1.75″ last weekend. She earned All-ACC honors during the indoor season.
Penk, a sophomore from Dacula, Ga., has a 3.89 GPA in Computational Media. A 2009 Outdoor All-ACC honoree in the pole vault, she broke the outdoor school-record earlier in the season with a clearance of 12’11.50″, but is currently second on the school’s all-time list. She is also is tied for the second-best indoor vault in school-history at 13’2.25″.
Clooten, a senior from Fairbanks, Alaska, holds a 3.64 GPA and is an Industrial Engineering major. Currently the president of the Georgia Tech Student Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB), Clooten threw a personal best distance of 194′ in the hammer while placing second at the Yellow Jacket Invitational. That mark earned her an at-large berth to the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Earlier this season, Clooten placed fifth at the ACC outdoor Championships in the hammer throw, and she placed sixth at the ACC indoors in the weight throw.
