McCaffrey, Theisen are NCAA postgraduate scholars

March 10, 2009

St. Thomas had two senior women receive NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships for the fall 2008 season -- cross country's Katie Theisen and volleyball's Katie McCaffrey.

Only 29 senior women from all three NCAA divisions were honored this fall from the sports of CC, volleyball, field hockey and soccer, including just 10 Division III student-athletes.

One other MIAC student-athlete received the prestigious award on the men's side -- Concordia-Moorhead football standout Levi DeVries.

The one-time grants of $7,500 each are awarded for fall sports, winter sports and spring sports. Each sports season (fall, winter and spring), there are 29 scholarships available for men and 29 scholarships available for women. The scholarships are one-time, non-renewable grants and are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.

McCaffrey (SR-Fort Collins, Colo.) was named to the 2008 CoSIDA ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America first team for the College Division (Division II and III and NAIA). McCaffrey and Juniata's Amber Thomas were the lone players to make first-team AVCA All-America and CoSIDA Academic All-America.

McCaffrey is the third Tommie volleyball Academic All-America honoree and first since Penny Thompson was a repeat honoree in 1991 and 1992. UST has now had 59 CoSIDA All-Americans, including 40 in the last nine years.

McCaffrey, who had a 3.87 gpa in Mathematics, surpassed 1,200 kills and 500 blocks on her career while hitting .340. The 2008 MIAC Player of the Year, she helped the Tommies go 28-0 vs. conference foes the last two seasons and post a four-year record of 115-22. This year she hit .355 and averaged 3.96 kills a set and 12.9 blocks a set. She had 63 kills and 37 blocks in three postseason matches, including 31 kills in a five-set loss to UW-LaCrosse.

PHOTOS: Right, McCaffrey; below, Theisen

Theisen repeated as an All-American last Nomvember with a 13th-place individual finish in a field of 279 finishers at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in Hanover, Ind.

Theisen clocked 21:24 for 6,000 meters and led the Tommies to 14th place out of 32 teams. It was UST's fourth consecutive top-25 NCAA team finish. Theisen placed 71st, 36th, 20th and 13th in her four national cross country races, with top 35 earning All-American status. She was in 40th place Saturday at 2,500 meters but moved into the top 20 in the middle part of the race.

Last June, Theisen was voted second-team Academic All-America for College Division track and field and cross country. She was among 45 student-athletes honored on the elite team, sponsored by ESPN the Magazine and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

In a rare and possibly unprecedented feat, siblings Katie and P.J. Theisen received the prestigious Academic All-America honor in the same season. P.J. was a first-team honoree on the men's team. On his career P.J. received four AAA honors, and also was an NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient.

Katie Theisen was one of five MIAC students to be honored with a coveted Goldwater Scholarship for 2008-2009.

Theisen, who has a 4.00 grade-point average in Biology, is among an elite group of 321 students nationally honored from a pool of more than 1,000 nominated by faculty members. Theisen is doing research on ecological effects on reproduction under the direction of Dr. Adam Kay and Dr. Maurine Neiman of the Biology Department in St. Thomas' College of Arts and Sciences. She plans to attend medical school and possibly teach some day. She said she hopes she can apply "evolutionary principles to basic science questions of medical relevance."

Last March in indoor track and field, she anchored the Tommie distance-medley relay to second in the Division III championships. In April, she anchored the same relay team to second place at the Drake Relays in Des Moines. She qualified for nationals in the 800 meters and also was a provisional qualifier in the steeplechase, 400 hurdles and 4x400 relay. She will compete this weekend in Indiana at the 2009 indoor nationals.

On her MIAC career in seve indoor and outdoor meets thus far, Theisen has 27 top-five placings including seven relay victories and four individual titles. She's helped the Tommies win 10 of a possible 11 MIAC team titles thus far in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.

She's also been a four-time cross country All-MIAC honoree as she's taken 13th, third, second and fourth at the conference meet.