Leonard-Fleckman Named USTFCCCA Scholar Athlete of the Year

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http://bearsports.wustl.edu/releases/track7-14-08.html

Leonard-Fleckman Named USTFCCCA Scholar Athlete of the Year

St. Louis, Mo., July 14, 2008 – Senior Morgen Leonard-Fleckman of the Washington University in St. Louis women’s track and field team was named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) Division III Indoor Field Scholar Athlete of the Year, as announced by the association.

Leonard-Fleckman won the national championship in the pole vault at the 2008 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, breaking the Washington U. school record with a first-place height of 12-feet-eight-inches. Her individual national title helped propel the Bears to a third-place overall finish at the NCAA Championship meet, the squad’s highest finish in school history. She was also named the NCAA Women’s Field Athlete of the Meet.

Leonard-Fleckman garnered a fifth-place finish in the pole vault at the 2008 Outdoor Championships. She ended her career as a four-time All-America honoree and holds the Washington University school record in both the indoor pole vault and outdoor pole vault (12-feet-four-inches). Leonard-Fleckman was also a five-time University Athletic Association (UAA) pole vault champion and a three-time Academic all-UAA honoree.

"Morgen has enjoyed a remarkable track and field career. She has been able to establish a great balance between academics and athletics and that has aided her development in track and field. Her academic pursuit has always been the number one priority for her," said head coach Paul Thornton.

Leonard-Fleckman graduated in May with a degree in chemistry and a 3.99 cumulative grade point average, earning a 2008 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. She will spend the next two years working as a high school science teacher for the Teach For America program before beginning her pursuit of a graduate medical degree at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2010.