The University of Mississippi Athletics
Four Rebels Tabbed Academic All-District
6/2/2011 | Track and Field
June 2, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - Four members of the Ole Miss track and field/cross country program were honored Thursday as Capital One Academic All-District 6 selections, presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Graduate cross country runner Barnabas Kirui and senior sprinter/hurdlers Lee Ellis Moore and Sofie Persson were named to the District 6 first team, while sophomore sprinter/hurdler Sofia Hellberg-Jonsen earned second-team status.
With their first-team selections, Kirui, Moore and Persson are placed on the ballot for Capital One Academic All-America consideration.
Kirui and Moore have both previously been honored as first-team Capital One Academic All-Americans, Kirui in 2007 and Moore in 2010. Moore was also a third-team Academic All-American in 2009. Persson is a first-team Academic All-District pick for the second straight year, while Hellberg-Jonsen earns the distinction in her first year eligible.
To be nominated, the student-athlete must have had a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.30 (on a 4.0 scale) in both undergrad and graduate work and have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing and must have completed at least one academic year at their current institution.
A three-time SEC cross country champion, Kirui graduated in May 2010 with a bachelor's degree in accounting. The native Kenyan accumulated a 3.40 GPA in undergrad and a 3.33 in his first semester of graduate school this past fall, when he capped his Rebel career by capturing his third cross country league title. The overall seven-time SEC champion, two-time All-American and one-time NCAA champion also received an NCAA postgraduate scholarship this year and won the 2011 SEC Brad Davis Community Service award for all sports.
Moore, recently crowned the 2011 SEC champion in the 400 meter hurdles, graduated in May after compiling a 3.94 GPA as a biology major with a chemistry minor. With those credentials, he was voted as the 2011 SEC Men's Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league coaches. On the track, he ranks sixth in the nation in the 400 meter hurdles heading into next week's NCAA Championships and is a former All-American in the event. The Cordova, Tenn., native plans to attend medical school with the help of three different prestigious scholarships he earned as an undergrad. He received the Taylor Medal, which is the highest academic honor a student can receive at the University of Mississippi, and he is Ole Miss' nominee for the 2011 SEC McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Also competing in the 400 meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships is Persson, who graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in marketing. The Sweden native compiled a 3.83 cumulative GPA and was recognized this year as the top marketing student in the University's business school. On the track, she was a 2011 NCAA Indoor All-American in the 800 meters after placing third at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She ranks 20th nationally in the 400 meter hurdles and will also anchor the Rebels' ninth-ranked 4x400 meter relay squad at the national championships.
Hellberg-Jonsen boasts a spotless 4.0 GPA as a sophomore business major. Also from Sweden, she runs with Persson on the Rebels' ninth-ranked 4x400 meter relay team that qualified for the upcoming NCAA Outdoor Championships. Individually, she ranks 81st in the nation in the 400 meter hurdles.
