LORETTO, Pa. (June 5, 2008) – Seniors Ian Butcher (Georgetown, Ontario, Canada / Christ The King) and Lisa Morse (Freedom, N.Y. / Pioneer Central) and sophomore Anna Hoffman (Enon Valley, Pa. / Mohawk) have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 2 Track & Field / Cross Country First Teams, as voted upon by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), it was announced on Thursday afternoon.

Butcher has been named to the men’s first team, while Hoffman and Morse were named to the women’s first team. All three Red Flash student-athletes now become eligible for ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors, which will be announced during the last week of June. SFU has 31 all-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans. Former Red Flash men’s soccer player, Bryce Luetzen (Denver, Colorado / Denver Lutheran) was named a second team honoree this past November. Junior field hockey player Erin Reifsteck (Battle Creek, Mich. / Saint Phillip) is currently on the national ballot for the at-large team, which will be announced next week.

Butcher, who graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in English earlier this month, was named to the men’s first team with a 3.99 grade-point-average (GPA). He is a four-time place finisher at the Northeast Conference Championships, and is the men’s track & field team’s representative on Saint Francis’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He took sixth in the 400-meter dash at the 2008 NEC Indoor Championships, and is a three-time Top-8 finisher in the 500-meter dash at the NEC Indoor Championships. Butcher is a member of both the Saint Francis and Northeast Conference Academic Honor Rolls.
 
Hoffman has a 3.79 GPA and is working toward her degree in Elementary Special Education. In just two seasons, she is a three-time Northeast Conference Champion, and a two-time all-NEC Cross Country runner. Hoffman won the 2008 NEC Indoor title in the 5000-meter run with a conference record-smashing time of 17:23.11, which was also an ECAC qualifying time. She also took third place in the Mile Run (5:05.27) at the indoor championships. At the 2008 NEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Hoffman won the 5000-meter run in 17:36.64, and finished eighth in the 1,500-meter run. She continued her strong season at the ECAC Championships, where she finished 18th in the 5000-meter run. Hoffman won her first career NEC title at the 2007 Outdoor Championships with a time of 11:15.42 in the 3000-meter Steeplechase. During her freshman season, she took third in the 3,000 meters and fourth in the 5,000 meters at the NEC Indoor Championships. She has placed eighth and fifth during her first two seasons at the NEC Cross Country Championships, respectively. Hoffman, who is the women’s cross country teams’ member of the Leadership Council, is a Saint Francis and Northeast Conference Academic Honor Roll selection.

Morse graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Biology / Marine Biology with a 3.64 GPA earlier this month after finishing her career as a three-time Northeast Conference Champion. She was also a nine-time NEC first or second team honoree, and captured the 2007 NEC Outdoor Championship’s Most Outstanding Field Performer award. Additionally, Morse received the 2008 Dr. Philip Benham Scholar-Athlete Award, which is given to Saint Francis’ top male and female student-athlete who exhibits outstanding academic and athletic excellence. She was also the 2008 NEC Winter Scholar-Athlete of the Year for indoor track & field. Morse’s individual NEC titles have come in the Shot Put and Discus Throw. She won the 2006 and 2008 NEC titles in the Shot Put with distances of 14.34 meters and 14.66 meters, respectively. She won the Discus Throw with an NEC Outdoor Championship meet record toss of 13.58 meters in 2007. During that championship, she also took second in the Shot Put and fourth in the Hammer Throw to bring home the Most Outstanding Field Performer award. Another highlight of Morse’s career came as a freshman when her second and third place finishes in the Discus Throw and Shot Put, respectively, helped lead the Red Flash to the team NEC Outdoor title. Morse has qualified for the ECAC and NCAA Regional Championships on numerous occasions. She is a Saint Francis and Northeast Conference Academic Honor Roll student.

The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District and All-America teams are selected through voting by CoSIDA, a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.20 on a scale of 4.0, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA Championship sports.

CoSIDA selects Academic All-America teams in 12 programs: football, women’s volleyball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball, men’s track & field/cross country, women’s track & field/cross country, men’s at-large and women’s at-large.

For more information about the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Teams program, visit www.cosida.com.