Trio of Student-Athletes Named to ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District Team

June 7, 2007

KINGSTON, R.I. -- A trio of URI women's track & field/cross country student-athletes were honored by being named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District team.

Emily Anderson, Courtney Klenk, and Katherine Guilfoyle were all selected to the All-District 1 University Division First Team. By virtue of being named to the First Team, all three student-athletes will be on the ballot for the Academic All-America team.

Anderson, a native of Westerly, R.I., earned her undergraduate degree in May of 2006, with a bachelor's degree in political science and economics. She compiled a 3.97 grade point average and was a member of URI's Honors Program in her four years as an undergrad. As a junior, Anderson was inducted into Rhode Island's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and, that Summer studied at Oxford University in England, as part of the Washington International Studies Council Program. The 2005 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Year and ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA First Team Academic All-Conference selection, she is currently pursuing her master's degree in political science.

On the track, she has also enjoyed a fine career. A member of three A-10 Championship teams (2003, 2005 outdoors; 2005 indoors), she was the 2005 individual conference champion in the 1,000m indoors. She was the A-10 runner up in the 1,000m in 2003, 2006 and 2007 and also finished second at A-10's in 2003 in the outdoor 1,500m and in the 2005 indoor mile. She has also been a part of several successful URI relay teams at the A-10 Championships, as a member of the 2005 indoor distance medley and 2007 indoor 4x800m relay teams, which both finished second overall. In total, she has garnered seven second-place/runner up finishes in her career at the conference level. She has captained the Rams' track and cross country squads for the past two years, during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.

Klenk, a biological sciences major, has posted a perfect 4.0 grade point average in her academic tenure at URI. Inducted into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa academic society, her resume is filled with numerous academic awards and honors, including the Chi Alpha Sigma National Student-Athlete Honor Society, the Phi Eta Sigma National Freshman Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Golden Key Honor Society, and Phi Sigma Omega just to name a few.

In 2006, she was a winner of the USA Today National Sportsmanship Essay contest, while also earning the A-10 Sportsmanship Award that year. On the track, she earned a scholarship after walking-on her first season. She was a member of five Atlantic 10 championship teams - three outdoor and two indoor. In 2003 and 2005, she finished fourth in the 10,000m run while also placing fourth place in the 5,000m in 2003 at the A-10 Outdoor Championships.

Guilfoyle has maintained a 3.99 GPA as a Biological Sciences (Pre Dental) major while participating in the URI honors program, earning Dean's List honors every semester. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Eta Sigma, National Society of College Scholars, and Chi Alpha Sigma honor societies, she was selected as a University College Scholar following her freshman year -- an award that honors the top 10 freshmen in the entire university. She was also recognized at the Honors Convocation for winning an Eric Kumpf Memorial Humanities Award, which provided financial support to assist her senior honors project "Recruitment and Retention of Childhood Bereavement Center Facilitators," which has been accepted for presentation at the 11th Annual National Symposium on Children's Grief Support in Birmingham, Alabama, June 2007

On the track, Guilfoyle earned a scholarship after walking-on her first season and has scored in the steeplechase at the Atlantic 10 championship in all four seasons in a URI singlet. She was named to the Atlantic 10 Cross Country Academic All-Conference team in both 2005 and 2006 and was featured in the Atlantic 10/CSTV Student-Athlete Spotlight included on the Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship telecast.