June 19, 2009
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State senior Karoline Koehler added to her postseason accolades Friday when she was named a first-team women's track and field/cross country ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, the College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA) announced.
Koehler, who earned second-team honors last year, became the second student-athlete in school history to earn Academic All-America accolades twice, joining former men's soccer player Kevin Sapanli (2001 and 2003). Koehler is the only track and field/cross country athlete in school history to receive the academic honor and is the 17th San Diego State recipient of the award.
The honor is one of many for the Erfurt, Germany, native, who boasts a 3.82 grade point average with a major in international economics. Yesterday (June 18), Koehler was named the 2009 Mountain West Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Student-Athlete of the year after coming 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.