April 21, 2004

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. -- American University sophomore Keira Carlstrom (Oakton, Va./Oakton) was selected by the Patriot League sports information directors as the 2004 PL Women's Indoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She is the first Eagle to garner top women's indoor track & field academic honors.

Carlstrom, who was also the 2003 Patriot League Women's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year, owns a 3.50 cumulative grade-point average as a mathematics major. The sophomore is a three-time member of the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll and has earned a spot on the AU Dean's List twice (fall 2002 and fall 2003). Carlstrom is also an active member of AU's Math Honor Society.

In just two years in Washington, D.C., Carlstrom has re-written the American University record books. The sophomore shattered the school record in the mile with a time of 4:47.81, surpassing the previous mark of 4:55.59 set by Samia Akbar in 2003.

The 2003 cross country individual champion, Carlstrom earned first-team All-League honors for the second time in her career after winning the 3,000 (9:43.46) and coming in second in the mile (4:57.82) at the Patriot League Championships. Her time in the 3,000-meters also broke the school record. Additionally, Carlstrom was a member of the gold medal-winning DMR (12:05.81) and 4x800 (9:07.83) squads at the PL Indoor Championships.

During the cross country campaign, Carlstrom became the first female in Patriot League history to garner cross country All-America honors with a 16th-place effort (20:23) in the NCAA Championships.

A scholar-athlete nominee must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA and be a starter or key player in his/her sport. The winners are selected in a vote of the League's sports information directors.