National Champion Anna Rudd Claims GLIAC Commissioner's Award Honors
Big Rapids, Mich. - Ferris State University national champion women's track and field standout Anna Rudd (Leslie) was recently recognized as one of the 12 recipients of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Meijer Commissioner's Award for the winter campaign.
The awards, sponsored by Meijer, Incorporated, are presented after the Fall, Winter, and Spring athletic seasons to six male and six female student-athletes that excel both in the classroom and on the fields of play. All grade point averages are based on a 4.0 scale. The honorees for the spring season will be announced soon.
The six female student-athletes to receive the Winter 2013 Meijer Commissioner's Awards were: Kari Daugherty of Ashland; Anna Rudd of Ferris State; Kristen Hixon of Grand Valley State; Sam Hoyt of Michigan Tech and Kayla Scott of Wayne State along with Maura Donahue of the University of Indianapolis.
Meanwhile, the six male student-athletes to receive the Winter 2013 Meijer Commissioner's Awards included: Tyler Remmel of Ashland; Brad Piehl of Findlay; Derek Billing of Lake Superior State; Alex Culy of Michigan Tech; Nathan Hesche of Wayne State and Daniel Chan of Indianapolis.
"It is with great pleasure that I offer congratulations on behalf of the GLIAC to our 12 award winners," stated GLIAC Commissioner Dell Robinson. "The accomplishments of the 12 student-athletes is a shining example of the future leaders and individuals who serve as change agents on our campuses. I would like thank Meijer for their continued support that allows the GLIAC to honor our top student-athletes."
Rudd etched her name in the record books this season as she claimed the NCAA Division II Championship in the women's 5,000 meters during the national indoor meet held at the Birmingham (Ala.) CrossPlex March 7-9. She became only the second-ever women's track and field individual national champion in school history by winning the indoor 5,000 at the national meet.
In addition to winning the 5,000 meters at the indoor championships, she also finished as the runner-up in the 3,000 meters while claiming USTFCCCA Division II All-America honors in both events. For her efforts, Rudd was named to the USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region Team in three events (mile, 3,000 and 5,000) and also honored as this year's recipient of the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year honor for her accomplishments during the indoor campaign.
By virtue of her national title effort, Rudd joined former FSU long jumper Amy Woodman as the only women's NCAA national track and field champions in school history. Her personal-best winning time of 16:28.18 narrowly eclipsed the previous school record held by 11-time All-American Tina Muir. Her 18 total points from the two events in the meet also enabled the Bulldogs to place 14th overall nationally in the team race at indoor nationals.
This indoor season, she led the Bulldogs as she claimed two individual event titles at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Indoor Championships held in Allendale (Feb. 23-24) en route to being tabbed as both the Women's Track Athlete of the Meet along with being voted as the league's nominee for the regional track athlete of the year honor. Rudd ran a meet-record 16:42.95 over 5000 meters at the league indoor meet and also won a title at 3000 (9:37.06) meters before redshirting during the outdoor season.
Rudd is the fourth Bulldog student-athlete to be recognized as a Meijer Commissioner's Award honoree to date this year, joining three other student-athletes who received the same recognition in the fall including senior volleyball student-athletes Samantha Fordyce (DeWitt) and Anne Sutton (Grand Rapids/Northview) along with senior men's cross country runner Ryan Chute (Waterford/Mott).