Field Hockey, Swimming Standouts Earn Academic All-District Honors
Field hockey standout Kelley Herde, class of 2011 from Louisville, Ky., and swimming and diving standout Rachel Lee, class of 2012 from Hickory, NC, have been recognized for the combination of their athletic and academic accomplishments with CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America College Division All-District IV honors, respectively.
Kelley Herde
Rachel Lee
Springfield, Ohio — Wittenberg University field hockey standout Kelley Herde, class of 2011 from Louisville, Ky., and swimming and diving standout Rachel Lee, class of 2012 from Hickory, NC, have been recognized for the combination of their athletic and academic accomplishments with first- and second-team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America College Division All-District IV honors, respectively.
Herde and Lee are grouped together in a category called "Women's At-Large," which encompasses numerous sports, including field hockey, lacrosse, swimming and diving, tennis and golf. The district awards are a result of online voting conducted recently by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Only student-athletes who make the first team in district voting, as Herde did, can be considered for Academic All-America awards.
Herde turned in her best collegiate season to date in 2009, helping the Tigers to records of 12-6 overall and 10-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Wittenberg earned a share of the conference regular season title and earned an NCAA Division III Tournament berth, the program's first in five years and eighth all-time.
Herde contributed a team-leading 13 defensive saves, which led the NCAC and ranked fifth nationally, in addition to ranking fourth in Wittenberg history. In addition, the defenseman racked up two goals and six assists during a season in which she was named second-team All-NCAC after earning first-team honors a year earlier, but she followed up the 2009 conference award with second-team All-Great Lakes Region honors. Herde also served as a team captain in 2009.
Off the field, Herde maintains a 3.97 grade point average while majoring in management and Spanish. She is a member of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honorary, among numerous honors societies, including Omicron Kappa Delta, Chi Alpha Sigma, Mortar Board and Alpha Lambda Delta. Herde also is active in numerous extracurricular activities, including Peer Mentors, Emerging Leaders, Wittenberg Center for Applied Management (WittCAM), Girl Power and Relay for Life.
Lee is a versatile swimmer for the Tigers, who placed fourth in the 2010 NCAC Championships in February. During the 2009-10 season, she turned in nine first-place finishes in relay events and five other individual victories in dual meets before recording top-eight finishes in the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard medley relay, 800-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relay at the NCAC meet.
Owner of a perfect 4.0 grade point average in management, while also minoring in music, Lee is active in the University Honors program, Athletes for Christ, Alpha Lambda Delta and Athletes in Action. An accomplished cellist, Lee frequently performs on campus, in addition to holding an officer position in the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
Written by: Ryan Maurer
Photos by: Erin Pence
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