June 22, 2010

Kruse earns Academic All-America

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Recent Grove City College graduate Derek Kruse (Middlefield, Ohio/Cardinal) earned College Division Third Team Academic All-America for cross country/track and field Tuesday morning from ESPN The Magazine and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Kruse earned four letters in track and field for Grove City and helped the Wolverines capture Presidents' Athletic Conference titles in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2010, Kruse took second in both the high jump, 1500-meter run and 1600-meter relay at the PAC Championships. He earned the squad's Most Valuable Performer for the 2010 season.

During his career, Kruse set a new school record in the 1500 with a time of 4 minutes, 2.97 seconds. He qualified for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships in both the high jump and 1500 during his career.

Kruse also competed in cross country in fall 2009 and helped Grove City win the conference title. He earned third place individually at the PAC Championships and also helped Grove City earn 10th overall at the NCAA Mideast Championships.

Kruse achieved a 3.93 cumulative grade-point average while majoring in molecular biology. He earned Dean's List honors along with placement on the PAC Academic Honor Roll. Kruse graduated in May with a bachelor of science degree.

Kruse is the third Grove City student-athlete to earn Academic All-America distinction during the 2009-10 academic year. Senior basketball player Andy O'Keefe (Perry, Ohio/Perry) earned Second Team Academic All-America in February. Earlier this month, senior swimmer Richard Albertson (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) achieved Third Team honors on the At-Large Team.

Kruse is Grove City's 15th Academic All-American since 2002. Those 15 student-athletes have earned a total of 20 Academic All-America citations. Kruse is Grove City's 32nd all-time CoSIDA Academic All-American.

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