June 18, 2009
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State All-American Karoline Koehler has been named the 2009 Mountain West Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Thursday morning.
A native of Erfurt, Germany, Koehler came close to capturing the long jump title at last week's NCAA Outdoor Championship. The 2009 MWC Women's Outdoor High Point Award recipient was the event's leader for the first three jumps before being forced to pass on her final three attempts after injuring her knee on her third try. Koehler finished second and earned All-America honors with a third-place all-time MWC effort of 21-05.50.
Two days later, Koehler went on to claim her second All-America certificate of the outdoor season with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump. Her leap of 44-00.75 also ranks third in the all-time MWC record book and both performances were league season-bests. In addition to both horizontal jumping events, Koehler competed for the national title in the 100-meter dash and was a part of the national qualifying 4x100 relay team.
Prior to the national meet, the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 8 First-Team member won the triple jump with a personal- and meet-record performance (44-09.00) at the NCAA West Regionals and was runner-up in the long jump (21-09.50). Meanwhile at the MWC Outdoor Championship, Koehler earned an impressive 30.5 points after securing titles in the long jump and triple jump events, while also finishing third and sixth in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, respectively, and running a leg on the third-place Aztec 4x100-meter relay team.
Koehler finishes the outdoor campaign with the school record in both the long jump and triple jump and owns the program's second-fastest 100-meter time.
The award, which is in its second year, marks the second time an Aztec has earned the honor. Twelve months ago, pole vaulter Stephanie Bagan was recognized by the league's coaches after a season in which she became an All-American, won the West Regional and vaulted a personal-, school- and conference -record 14-03.50.
The MWC Student-Athlete of the Year award recognizes the outstanding male and female athletes in the sport of outdoor track & field. Student-athletes are nominated and selected by the head coaches at each member institution. This year's male recipient is Brigham Young's Kyle Perry.