Oct. 31, 2007

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell junior Gillian Nordquist (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston) was tabbed as the 2007 Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's cross country, the league announced on Wednesday. Nordquist is the fourth Bison to receive the honor; Kelly Marsh won the award in 1990, Julie Sweitzer was a three-time honoree from 1996-98 and Becki Marshall was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's cross country from 1999-2001.

To be eligible for the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average and must also be a key player in his/her sport.

A double-major in English/Creative Writing and Spanish, Norqduist holds a cumulative GPA of 3.91 and was named to the Patriot League Women's Cross Country Academic Honor Roll for the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

This past weekend, at the Patriot League Championships, Nordquist helped the Bison collect their third-consecutive Patriot League Championship title as she recorded the third-fastest finish for Bucknell and earned second-team all-league honors for the second time of her career. Nordquist finished the 6K race in 21:50.00 to take ninth of 86 runners.

As a junior, Nordquist has scored three times this season for Bucknell. She opened 2007 with a third-place finish at the Bison Open, running the 3-mile race in 17:47.86. At the Western Ontario International Invitational, she recorded the fifth-fastest Bison finish, taking 25th of 147 runners in the 5K (19:16.00). She was the second-fastest Bison at both the Paul Short Invitational and the Lafayette Leopard Invitational, running the 6K in 22:27.00 (97th of 317 runners) and in 21:46.00 (14th of 122 runners), respectively.

Gillian Nordquist at the 2007 Bison Open

Nordquist also scored for Bucknell at the Patriot League Championships as a sophomore last season, finishing 10th in the 6K (24:30.00) to make second-team all-league. Additionally, she ran at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships in 2006 and finished 59th of 195 runners with a time of 22:12.00 for the 6K.

The Bucknell women's cross country team is now set to prepare for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships on Nov. 10, at Lehigh. ECACs are set for Nov. 17, in Bronx, N.Y., and the NCAA Championships will take place on Nov. 19, in Terre Haute, Ind.