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Association to honor Today's Top VIII at 2007 Convention
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The NCAA Honors Committee has selected eight standout student-athletes as this year’s NCAA Today’s Top VIII.
These current student-athletes will be recognized for their athletics success, academic achievement and community service during the NCAA Honors Celebration January 7 at the 2007 NCAA Convention in Orlando.
The 2007 Today’s Top VIII are Alison Crocker, Dartmouth College, skiing and rowing; Laura Gerraughty, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, indoor and outdoor track and field; Ryan Koch, St. Cloud State University, football and outdoor track and field; Adrianne Musu Jackson-Buckner, State University College at Oneonta, indoor track and field; Beth Mallory, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, indoor and outdoor track and field; Heather O’Reilly, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, soccer; Catherine Osterman, University of Texas at Austin, softball; and Kate Richardson, University of California, Los Angeles, gymnastics.
The Top VIII Award winners are selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, which includes eight athletics administrators at member institutions and nationally distinguished citizens who are former student-athletes. The committee members are: Thomas J. Brown, commissioner, Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; Cedric W. Dempsey, president emeritus, NCAA; Timothy W. Gleason, commissioner, Ohio Athletic Conference; Calvin Hill, consultant, Dallas Cowboys; Jackie Joyner-Kersee, former University of California, Los Angeles, track and field student-athlete and Olympian; Gibbs Knotts, faculty athletics representative, Western Carolina University; Julie Power Ruppert, associate commissioner and senior woman administrator, America East Conference; and Barbara G. Walker, senior associate athletics director, Wake Forest University.
Following are summaries of the winners’ achievements:
Ryan Koch
St. Cloud State University
Outdoor track and field and football
Koch graduated in December 2005 with degrees in computer science, Spanish and mathematics. The NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient also was named the Senior Male Athlete of the Year at St. Cloud State and chosen as the 2006 North Central Conference Stan Marshall Award winner. A 2005 National Football Foundation Draddy Trophy finalist, Koch was a three-time NCAA Division II all-American in the decathlon and a four-time NCAA qualifier.
He also was named ESPN the Magazine Academic all-America Team Member of the Year for track and field in the college division. In addition, Koch was a four-time first-team NCC academic pick.
Outside the classroom and off the field, Koch’s activities included tutoring and serving as an Athletes in Action leader, Campus Crusade for Christ meeting leader and Kids Against Hunger volunteer. He has been a special event coordinator for pediatric brain trauma and pediatric cancer patients at St. Cloud Hospital. Koch also has volunteered at Boys and Girls Club of St. Cloud and served as a youth track and field coach and workout coordinator.
Alison Crocker
Dartmouth College
Skiing and rowing
A three-time NCAA all-American in cross country skiing, Crocker graduated in June with degrees in physics and mathematics. She was named to the U.S. Junior National Ski Team in 2003 and 2004 and the U.S. Under-23 National Ski Team in 2006. Crocker represented the United States in four World Cup competitions and was a member of the New England Nordic Skiing Association Elite Team for three years.
The second American finisher at the 2005 U.S. Nationals was a member of Dartmouth’s varsity ski team for three years and earned first-team all-East honors three years in a row. She also was selected to the U.S. Junior National Rowing Team in 2002 and was a varsity rower at Dartmouth in 2002-03.
As a Rhodes Scholar, Crocker will complete coursework for a doctorate in astrophysics at Oxford. She also is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. The three-time NCAA academic all-American also was named an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American.
Since 2003, Crocker has been a member of Cabin and Trail, a division of the Dartmouth Outing Club involved in hiking, backpacking and cabin/trail maintenance. She also served as trailwork director and was charged with organizing the upkeep of the 72 miles of Appalachian Trail that the club maintains. She served as a peer mentor and worked as an intern at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire. Crocker also was an astronomy research intern at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
Laura Gerraughty
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Indoor and outdoor track
A four-time NCAA champion and two-time national runner-up in the shot put, Gerraughty is the NCAA national indoor record holder in the discipline. She was a 13-time Atlantic Coast Conference champion with multiple titles in the shot put, discus throw, hammer throw and weight throw. After winning the shot put at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trails to earn a position on the U.S. team that competed in Athens, the 10-time all-American became the first collegiate woman to win the event at the Trials. In addition to being ranked No. 1 nationally in the NCAA in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006, she was ranked second in the United States and 16th in the 2006 International Association of Athletic Federations World Rankings.
Gerraughty earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in linguistics in May 2005. A three-time academic all-American, she was the 2005 recipient of the Gene Anderson Student-Athlete Award, presented annually to one female and one male North Carolina track and field student-athlete with the highest grade-point average from the previous year. She also won the school’s Mildred McCaskill Award, which recognizes scholarship, athletics and community service.
Since February 2000, Gerraughty has been a certified USA Track and Field official. She spent three summers serving as an event instructor and counselor at university-sponsored track and field camps and worked as a swimming instructor in the physical education department. Gerraughty also was a member of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council and was North Carolina’s delegate to the conference SAAC.
Adrianne Musu Jackson-Buckner
State University College at Oneonta
Indoor and outdoor track
The 2006 Division III national champion in the 200-meter dash, Jackson-Buckner is a two-time indoor and four-time outdoor track and field all-American. In addition to being on one indoor and two outdoor Eastern College Athletic Conference championship teams in 2005 and 2006, she was a four-time indoor and two-time outdoor ECAC individual champion. Also a seven-time indoor and 10-time outdoor State University of New York Athletic Conference champion, she was chosen as the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Athlete of the Year in the Atlantic region.
Jackson-Buckner graduated in May 2006 with a degree in English. The NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner was a finalist for the 2006 NCAA Woman of the Year award. An ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American, Jackson-Buckner also was named the USTFCCCA Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She earned recognition on the SUNYAC Commissioner’s List and was a four-time selection to that league’s all-academic team.
Jackson-Buckner served as an orientation leader and campus tour guide and as a member of Oneonta State’s SAAC, chairing the diversity committee. She also participated in the African American-Latino-Asian-Native American mentorship program and was a student coordinator for the Oneonta Safe Space program. Jackson-Buckner was inducted into Chi Alpha Sigma, the national student-athlete honor society, and Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society.
Beth Mallory
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Indoor and outdoor track
The 2005 NCAA discus champion and four-time all-American in the discipline also twice earned all-America honors in the hammer throw. The three-time Southeastern Conference discus champion earned the 2005 Commissioner’s Trophy as the high scorer at the conference championships. She also captured a league title in the shot put and Mideast Regional championships in the discus and hammer throw in 2005, the same year she was chosen as the SEC Field Athlete of the Year. Mallory, who also collected a regional crown in the discus in 2006, was a silver medalist in the discus and hammer throw at the 2003 Junior Pan-Am Games.
Mallory earned a degree in human performance with a concentration in physical education, K-12, in May 2006 and is the recipient of an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. The ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American won the 2005 Paul “Bear” Bryant Award for Outstanding Female Athlete and the Phi Mu Patience Stevens Scholarship Award for Academic Excellence in Physical Education.
A two-time team captain for the Crimson Tide, she was a member of the 2005-06 Undergraduate Student Advisory Committee for Physical Education and also was inducted into the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society. Mallory was a member of the women’s chorus and university chorus at Alabama.
Heather O’Reilly
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Soccer
The most outstanding offensive player at the 2006 Women’s College Cup helped the Tar Heels capture their 18th NCAA title earlier this month. O’Reilly also earned most-outstanding-player honors as part of the national championship team in 2003, the same year she was named the national freshman of the year.
O’Reilly, last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference offensive player of the year, was a member of three conference championship teams. A two-time first team all-American and Hermann Trophy finalist (2004) and semifinalist (2005), O’Reilly also has made her mark internationally as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team since 2002. The 2004 Olympic gold medalist was selected as that year’s U.S. Soccer’s Young Female Athlete of the Year. She also helped the United States win its first Under-19 World Championship as a starter for the 2002 U.S. Under-19 National Team.
A three-time Dean’s List and two-time ACC Honor Roll selection, O’Reilly was chosen as ESPN the Magazine’s Scholar-Athlete All-American of the Year. The middle-grade education major graduated in May 2006.
O’Reilly has volunteered with various community service activities through Carolina Outreach, including Get Kids in Action, Carolina Dreams, Adopt-A-Classroom and Katrina Relief Fund. She also is a member of North Carolina’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Executive Board.
Catherine Osterman
University of Texas at Austin
Softball
The 2002 Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year, Osterman went on to become a four-time conference pitcher of the year and three-time conference female athlete of the year. She also was a three-time winner of USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year honors and a three-time first-team all-America pick by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
A member of the U.S. National Softball Team since 2003, Osterman was on the 2004 squad that captured an Olympic gold medal in Athens. She was a two-time Honda Award winner as the top female collegiate softball player and earned back-to-back ESPN ESPY Awards as the Best College Female Athlete in 2005 and 2006. Osterman was captain of the Longhorns’ 2005 team.
Osterman will graduate with a degree in psychology in May 2007. She was the recipient of the Big 12 Conference Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship and a two-year winner of the V.F. “Doc” Neuhaus Endowed Presidential Scholarship, the university’s women’s athletics department’s highest scholarship honor. Osterman also was a four-time academic all-Big 12 pick.
In addition to serving as a guest speaker at the 2005 Texas Conference for Women, Osterman participated in the university’s pen pal program and Christmas Bureau Adopt-A-Family outreach. She also was a volunteer coach for the Austin Storm Club softball team.
Kate Richardson
University of California, Los Angeles
Gymnastics
Richardson, a five-time NCAA champion and 13-time all-American, was named as the 2006 Pacific-10 Conference gymnast of the year. She also was the league’s freshman of the year in 2003. That same year, Richardson captured Pacific-10 titles in the team, all-around and floor exercise and went on to earn the NCAA South Central Region balance beam title. Richardson earned a second conference championship in the floor exercise in 2004 and also became just the second female collegiate gymnast to compete in the Olympic Games.
She was the 2006 Pacific-10 Gymnast of the Year and the NCAA South Central Regional champion in the all-around, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Richardson was the Pacific-10’s 2006 Woman of the Year honoree and was a nominee for the Honda Award.
The three-time ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American is an NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner as well. Richardson also is a three-time Pacific-10 all-academic selection and a four-time National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women Scholastic all-American. She will graduate in May 2007 with a degree in psychobiology.
Richardson was captain of the 2005-06 Bruins gymnastics team and represented the university at the 2005 Pacific-10 Student-Athlete Conference. She also has been an active member of the Bruin Athletic Council, UCLA’s version of a student-athlete advisory committee. Richardson was a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and the Los Angeles Covenant House Candlelight Vigil. She also served as an undergraduate academic assistant at the Vancouver (Canada) Spinal Cord Research Center.
These current student-athletes will be recognized for their athletics success, academic achievement and community service during the NCAA Honors Celebration January 7 at the 2007 NCAA Convention in Orlando.
The 2007 Today’s Top VIII are Alison Crocker, Dartmouth College, skiing and rowing; Laura Gerraughty, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, indoor and outdoor track and field; Ryan Koch, St. Cloud State University, football and outdoor track and field; Adrianne Musu Jackson-Buckner, State University College at Oneonta, indoor track and field; Beth Mallory, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, indoor and outdoor track and field; Heather O’Reilly, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, soccer; Catherine Osterman, University of Texas at Austin, softball; and Kate Richardson, University of California, Los Angeles, gymnastics.
The Top VIII Award winners are selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, which includes eight athletics administrators at member institutions and nationally distinguished citizens who are former student-athletes. The committee members are: Thomas J. Brown, commissioner, Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; Cedric W. Dempsey, president emeritus, NCAA; Timothy W. Gleason, commissioner, Ohio Athletic Conference; Calvin Hill, consultant, Dallas Cowboys; Jackie Joyner-Kersee, former University of California, Los Angeles, track and field student-athlete and Olympian; Gibbs Knotts, faculty athletics representative, Western Carolina University; Julie Power Ruppert, associate commissioner and senior woman administrator, America East Conference; and Barbara G. Walker, senior associate athletics director, Wake Forest University.
Following are summaries of the winners’ achievements:
Ryan Koch
St. Cloud State University
Outdoor track and field and football
Koch graduated in December 2005 with degrees in computer science, Spanish and mathematics. The NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient also was named the Senior Male Athlete of the Year at St. Cloud State and chosen as the 2006 North Central Conference Stan Marshall Award winner. A 2005 National Football Foundation Draddy Trophy finalist, Koch was a three-time NCAA Division II all-American in the decathlon and a four-time NCAA qualifier.
He also was named ESPN the Magazine Academic all-America Team Member of the Year for track and field in the college division. In addition, Koch was a four-time first-team NCC academic pick.
Outside the classroom and off the field, Koch’s activities included tutoring and serving as an Athletes in Action leader, Campus Crusade for Christ meeting leader and Kids Against Hunger volunteer. He has been a special event coordinator for pediatric brain trauma and pediatric cancer patients at St. Cloud Hospital. Koch also has volunteered at Boys and Girls Club of St. Cloud and served as a youth track and field coach and workout coordinator.
Alison Crocker
Dartmouth College
Skiing and rowing
A three-time NCAA all-American in cross country skiing, Crocker graduated in June with degrees in physics and mathematics. She was named to the U.S. Junior National Ski Team in 2003 and 2004 and the U.S. Under-23 National Ski Team in 2006. Crocker represented the United States in four World Cup competitions and was a member of the New England Nordic Skiing Association Elite Team for three years.
The second American finisher at the 2005 U.S. Nationals was a member of Dartmouth’s varsity ski team for three years and earned first-team all-East honors three years in a row. She also was selected to the U.S. Junior National Rowing Team in 2002 and was a varsity rower at Dartmouth in 2002-03.
As a Rhodes Scholar, Crocker will complete coursework for a doctorate in astrophysics at Oxford. She also is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. The three-time NCAA academic all-American also was named an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American.
Since 2003, Crocker has been a member of Cabin and Trail, a division of the Dartmouth Outing Club involved in hiking, backpacking and cabin/trail maintenance. She also served as trailwork director and was charged with organizing the upkeep of the 72 miles of Appalachian Trail that the club maintains. She served as a peer mentor and worked as an intern at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire. Crocker also was an astronomy research intern at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
Laura Gerraughty
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Indoor and outdoor track
A four-time NCAA champion and two-time national runner-up in the shot put, Gerraughty is the NCAA national indoor record holder in the discipline. She was a 13-time Atlantic Coast Conference champion with multiple titles in the shot put, discus throw, hammer throw and weight throw. After winning the shot put at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trails to earn a position on the U.S. team that competed in Athens, the 10-time all-American became the first collegiate woman to win the event at the Trials. In addition to being ranked No. 1 nationally in the NCAA in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006, she was ranked second in the United States and 16th in the 2006 International Association of Athletic Federations World Rankings.
Gerraughty earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in linguistics in May 2005. A three-time academic all-American, she was the 2005 recipient of the Gene Anderson Student-Athlete Award, presented annually to one female and one male North Carolina track and field student-athlete with the highest grade-point average from the previous year. She also won the school’s Mildred McCaskill Award, which recognizes scholarship, athletics and community service.
Since February 2000, Gerraughty has been a certified USA Track and Field official. She spent three summers serving as an event instructor and counselor at university-sponsored track and field camps and worked as a swimming instructor in the physical education department. Gerraughty also was a member of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council and was North Carolina’s delegate to the conference SAAC.
Adrianne Musu Jackson-Buckner
State University College at Oneonta
Indoor and outdoor track
The 2006 Division III national champion in the 200-meter dash, Jackson-Buckner is a two-time indoor and four-time outdoor track and field all-American. In addition to being on one indoor and two outdoor Eastern College Athletic Conference championship teams in 2005 and 2006, she was a four-time indoor and two-time outdoor ECAC individual champion. Also a seven-time indoor and 10-time outdoor State University of New York Athletic Conference champion, she was chosen as the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Athlete of the Year in the Atlantic region.
Jackson-Buckner graduated in May 2006 with a degree in English. The NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner was a finalist for the 2006 NCAA Woman of the Year award. An ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American, Jackson-Buckner also was named the USTFCCCA Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She earned recognition on the SUNYAC Commissioner’s List and was a four-time selection to that league’s all-academic team.
Jackson-Buckner served as an orientation leader and campus tour guide and as a member of Oneonta State’s SAAC, chairing the diversity committee. She also participated in the African American-Latino-Asian-Native American mentorship program and was a student coordinator for the Oneonta Safe Space program. Jackson-Buckner was inducted into Chi Alpha Sigma, the national student-athlete honor society, and Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society.
Beth Mallory
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Indoor and outdoor track
The 2005 NCAA discus champion and four-time all-American in the discipline also twice earned all-America honors in the hammer throw. The three-time Southeastern Conference discus champion earned the 2005 Commissioner’s Trophy as the high scorer at the conference championships. She also captured a league title in the shot put and Mideast Regional championships in the discus and hammer throw in 2005, the same year she was chosen as the SEC Field Athlete of the Year. Mallory, who also collected a regional crown in the discus in 2006, was a silver medalist in the discus and hammer throw at the 2003 Junior Pan-Am Games.
Mallory earned a degree in human performance with a concentration in physical education, K-12, in May 2006 and is the recipient of an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. The ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American won the 2005 Paul “Bear” Bryant Award for Outstanding Female Athlete and the Phi Mu Patience Stevens Scholarship Award for Academic Excellence in Physical Education.
A two-time team captain for the Crimson Tide, she was a member of the 2005-06 Undergraduate Student Advisory Committee for Physical Education and also was inducted into the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society. Mallory was a member of the women’s chorus and university chorus at Alabama.
Heather O’Reilly
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Soccer
The most outstanding offensive player at the 2006 Women’s College Cup helped the Tar Heels capture their 18th NCAA title earlier this month. O’Reilly also earned most-outstanding-player honors as part of the national championship team in 2003, the same year she was named the national freshman of the year.
O’Reilly, last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference offensive player of the year, was a member of three conference championship teams. A two-time first team all-American and Hermann Trophy finalist (2004) and semifinalist (2005), O’Reilly also has made her mark internationally as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team since 2002. The 2004 Olympic gold medalist was selected as that year’s U.S. Soccer’s Young Female Athlete of the Year. She also helped the United States win its first Under-19 World Championship as a starter for the 2002 U.S. Under-19 National Team.
A three-time Dean’s List and two-time ACC Honor Roll selection, O’Reilly was chosen as ESPN the Magazine’s Scholar-Athlete All-American of the Year. The middle-grade education major graduated in May 2006.
O’Reilly has volunteered with various community service activities through Carolina Outreach, including Get Kids in Action, Carolina Dreams, Adopt-A-Classroom and Katrina Relief Fund. She also is a member of North Carolina’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Executive Board.
Catherine Osterman
University of Texas at Austin
Softball
The 2002 Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year, Osterman went on to become a four-time conference pitcher of the year and three-time conference female athlete of the year. She also was a three-time winner of USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year honors and a three-time first-team all-America pick by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
A member of the U.S. National Softball Team since 2003, Osterman was on the 2004 squad that captured an Olympic gold medal in Athens. She was a two-time Honda Award winner as the top female collegiate softball player and earned back-to-back ESPN ESPY Awards as the Best College Female Athlete in 2005 and 2006. Osterman was captain of the Longhorns’ 2005 team.
Osterman will graduate with a degree in psychology in May 2007. She was the recipient of the Big 12 Conference Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship and a two-year winner of the V.F. “Doc” Neuhaus Endowed Presidential Scholarship, the university’s women’s athletics department’s highest scholarship honor. Osterman also was a four-time academic all-Big 12 pick.
In addition to serving as a guest speaker at the 2005 Texas Conference for Women, Osterman participated in the university’s pen pal program and Christmas Bureau Adopt-A-Family outreach. She also was a volunteer coach for the Austin Storm Club softball team.
Kate Richardson
University of California, Los Angeles
Gymnastics
Richardson, a five-time NCAA champion and 13-time all-American, was named as the 2006 Pacific-10 Conference gymnast of the year. She also was the league’s freshman of the year in 2003. That same year, Richardson captured Pacific-10 titles in the team, all-around and floor exercise and went on to earn the NCAA South Central Region balance beam title. Richardson earned a second conference championship in the floor exercise in 2004 and also became just the second female collegiate gymnast to compete in the Olympic Games.
She was the 2006 Pacific-10 Gymnast of the Year and the NCAA South Central Regional champion in the all-around, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Richardson was the Pacific-10’s 2006 Woman of the Year honoree and was a nominee for the Honda Award.
The three-time ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American is an NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner as well. Richardson also is a three-time Pacific-10 all-academic selection and a four-time National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women Scholastic all-American. She will graduate in May 2007 with a degree in psychobiology.
Richardson was captain of the 2005-06 Bruins gymnastics team and represented the university at the 2005 Pacific-10 Student-Athlete Conference. She also has been an active member of the Bruin Athletic Council, UCLA’s version of a student-athlete advisory committee. Richardson was a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and the Los Angeles Covenant House Candlelight Vigil. She also served as an undergraduate academic assistant at the Vancouver (Canada) Spinal Cord Research Center.
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