DENVER - Eight WAC women's soccer players have been named to the CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine's Academic All-District team.
Boise State's Malia Hendrix was named to the District 8 team third team. It is the three-time Academic All-WAC honoree's first national honor. Hendrix was one of 10 student-athletes recognized from the Western Athletic Conference. Hendrix is a senior from Boise, Idaho (Timberline HS). She has been a three-year starter for the Broncos at defender and has been one of the team's anchors in its defensive efforts that helped the Broncos win the 2009 WAC title. She is one of three players to start every match this year and has started all 63 matches in her career at Boise State since transferring home after one year at the University of Montana.
Fresno State's Megan Ashjian and Katie Lee were named first-team Academic All-District, while Claudia Cardenas and Kendall VanDine were named third-team.
Four is the most student-athletes that Fresno State have had earn the academic honor. In 2007, three Bulldogs were selected. This year marks the first time that a Bulldog was named first-team. Fresno State is one of four WAC schools to have student-athletes honored. The Bulldogs had the most selections out of all the WAC schools honored.
Ashjian, a honors Civil Engineering major, earned the academic honor for the first time in her career. The senior has played in 18 games and started eight in the midfield. Ashjian recorded seven shots and one shot on goal.
For the second year in a row, Lee was named Academic All-District. Last year, the senior was third-team and this year she made first-team. Lee, a honors Civil Engineering major, has a 4.0 GPA and started every game this year for the Bulldogs. She has anchored a defense that recorded six shutouts. Lee also recorded two assists this season.
Cardenas earned Academic All-District for the first time in her career. An Accounting major with a 3.72 GPA has played in every game and started 14. Cardenas has three goals and three assists this season for nine points.
VanDine the only junior honored is a Communications Disorder (Speech Pathology) with a 3.85 GPA. She scored her first goal against New Mexico State. VanDine has started 17 games this season and recorded 19 shots. The captain has one goal and two assists for four points this year.
Senior forward Kiva Gresham and junior forward Rachel King of the Louisiana Tech were named to the District 6 Team.
Gresham was one of 12 student-athletes to earn first team honors. The Albuquerque, N.M. native has recorded 12 goals and eight assists on the season. Her eight assists is a school record and in doing so, broke the school record for most assists in a career with 20. Gresham has become a major offensive threat this season and recorded her first-career hat trick in Tech's 5-4 overtime win over San Jose State. She holds a cumulative GPA of 3.72 while majoring in Kinesiology (health promotion).
King was named to the third team after earning first team honors last season. The O'Fallon, Mo. native has scored a school-record 13 goals this season and is also the career goals leader at Tech with 32. During a win over Grambling this season, King recorded her third-career hat trick. A Kinesiology (health promotion) major, King has a cumulative GPA of 3.56.
Nevada's Cristen Drummond was named to the District 8 second-team. Drummond, a senior from Los Angeles, Calif., earned her academic honor with a 3.83 grade point average in Journalism. On the field in 2010 she led the Pack with nine points on three goals and three assists. She also led the team with 55 shots, 20 shots on goal and tied for the team lead by starting and playing in all 19 matches. One of the Pack's most prolific scorers, Drummond has played in 69 games, with 15 goals, 8 assists and one game winner in her four years at Nevada. She is a three time all-WAC Academic performer, with another honor likely on the way for her senior season. In 2007, she was named to the all-WAC Freshman team.