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FLORIDA’S EVELIEN DEKKERS EARNS USTFCCCA SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR HONOR

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Former Florida thrower and the 2010 NCAA women’s javelin champion Evelien Dekkers (Etten-Leur, Netherlands) has been named 2010 Outdoor Women’s Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, the New Orleans-based organization announced Tuesday afternoon.

Scholar-Athletes are determined from among those who earned All-Academic status and placed highest in individual events at the most recent NCAA Championships. Those who earn multiple individual championship titles rank higher in the tie-breaking process, and cumulative GPA is weighed as the final tiebreaker to establish a winner.
Separate awards are given to track athletes and field athletes and separately for the indoor and outdoor seasons, resulting in four categories. The four Scholar-Athletes of the Year represent collegiate track & field’s best in both athletics and academics.

Dekkers, a 2010 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Second-Team Academic All-America selection and a two-time First-Team Academic All-District III honoree, holds a 3.84 grade-point average, majoring in food science and human nutrition. She also is minoring in business administration and is on track to graduate this summer. Earlier this month, it was announced that Dekkers is a recipient of a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.

Dekkers is the only person in school history to win an NCAA women's javelin championship and did so at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. She concludes her collegiate career as Florida's career leader in the women's javelin with a school-record toss of 58.99m/193-6, recorded in her last collegiate competition. She goes down as the No. 7 all-time collegiate performer in the women's javelin.

Dekkers, a four-time Pepsi Florida Relays javelin champion, won the Southeastern Conference women's javelin title in each of her last three collegiate seasons and earned three All-America honors during the course of her career.

Dekkers also has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in each year of her collegiate career.

For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team’s Twitter account @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField.

2010 USTFCCCA WOMEN’S SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR Indoor Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Phoebe Wright, Tennessee Indoor Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Kylie Hutson, Indiana State Outdoor Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Lisa Koll, Iowa State Outdoor Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Evelien Dekkers, Florida

USTFCCCA WOMEN’S SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR PAST WINNERS

Indoor Track & Field (track athlete)
2010: Phoebe Wright, Tennessee
2009: Sarah Bowman, Tennessee
2008: Sarah Bowman, Tennessee

Indoor Track & Field (field athlete)
2010: Kylie Hutson, Indiana State
2009: Kylie Hutson, Indiana State
2008: Ellie Rudy, Montana State

Indoor Track & Field (single award)
2007: Sarah Stevens, Arizona State

Outdoor Track & Field (track athlete)
2010: Lisa Koll, Iowa State
2009: Jenny Barringer, Colorado
2008: Lisa Koll, Iowa State

Outdoor Track & Field (field athlete)
2010: Evelien Dekkers, Florida
2009: Kim Williams, Florida State
2008: Sarah Stevens, Arizona State

Outdoor Track & Field (single award)
2007: Michelle Sikes, Wake Forest