Maor Seged

Four Western Kentucky track and field athletes in addition to the Lady Topper squad were recognized by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for their combined efforts in the classroom and competition throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the organization announced Monday.

Individually, Lady Toppers Katie Isenbarger, Getter Lemberg and Myesha Nott were honored as USTFCCCA All-Academic performers while Maor Seged earned the award from the Hilltopper squad.

In total, WKU’s women’s track and field squad was one of 366 teams honored by the USTFCCCA for its academics. Breaking it down further, 227 of those were women’s teams while 139 were men’s programs. The Lady Toppers sported a 3.29 GPA in the classroom across the 2018-19 school year.

Individually, 583 men were recognized while 902 women brought home academic honors. To qualify from the indoor season, a student-athlete must have finished the regular season ranked in the national top 96 in an individual event or ranked in the national top 48 in a relay event. For the outdoor season, a student-athlete must have participated in any round of the NCAA Division I Championships.

All four WKU individuals qualified through their outdoor performances, competing at the NCAA East Preliminary competition May 23-25 in Jacksonville, Fla. Seged advanced to the 400-meter semifinals where he ultimately finished 13th at the NCAA Prelims with a mark of 50.65.

On the women’s side, Isenbarger competed in the high jump and recorded a jump of 1.65 meters for 44th place. Lemberg represented WKU in the pole vault and earned a 36th-place finish with her clear of 3.77 meters. Myesha Nott competed in the women’s triple jump from Jacksonville and finished 32nd after a mark of 12.39 meters.

Hailing from Be’er Sheba, Israel, Seged finished the 2018-19 school year on the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll. The senior sprinter and hurdler majored in electrical engineering and earned his third C-USA All-Academic Team accolade during the 2019 campaign after posting a 3.56 GPA.

A fellow international senior, Lemberg came to WKU from Tartu, Estonia, and posted a 4.00 GPA while earning a degree in social work. Lemberg also represented WKU on the 2019 C-USA Track & Field All-Academic Team in addition to earning a spot on the Conference USA Academic Medal and Commissioner’s Honor Roll lists in her final year with the Lady Toppers.

Isenbarger and Nott both earned the award in their debut seasons with the program. Isenbarger – a middle hitter on the Lady Topper volleyball squad as well – was recognized by the league with both the Academic Medal and Commissioner’s Honor Roll awards. The rookie out of Zionsville, Ind., earned a spot on WKU’s President’s list in both of her semesters at WKU so far while studying communication.

Hailing from Jamaica, Nott earned a spot on the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll as a freshman. Studying medical laboratory science, Nott was also on the WKU Dean’s List both semesters during the 2018-19 school year.

Toppers nab UTSTFCCCA academic honors

For the 13th consecutive season, Western Kentucky’s volleyball team has been recognized as a recipient of the AVCA Team Academic Award for its work in the classroom throughout the 2018-19 school year, the association announced Monday. With a cumulative GPA of 3.46, the Lady Toppers have earned the Team Academic Award for the 17th time since 1999.

The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that display excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

Since the 2000-01 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while more than doubling the total over the last eight academic years. Since the award’s inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 1,125.