By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- Two Willamette University runners have been selected First Team Capital One Academic All-District VIII in women's track and field and cross country as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Willamette's selections are Michaela Freeby (Sr., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putnam HS) and Taylor Ostrander (Jr., Kenai, AK/Kenai Central HS).

As First Team Academic All-District selections, Freeby and Ostrander are eligible for the 2014-15 Capital One NCAA Division III Academic All-America Team, which will be released on Tuesday, June 23.

First Team Capital One Academic All-District

Michaela Freeby (Sr.) recently graduated from Willamette with a major in Biology and a minor in German. She earned a 3.39 cumulative grade point average through the fall semester in 2014.

Freeby leads NCAA Division III in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a personal record time of 10:30.09, set at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on April 3. She won her third Northwest Conference title in the steeplechase this season. She also won the steeplechase in 2012 and 2013. Freeby took first place in the NWC in the 1,500-meter run in 2014.

She is competing at the NCAA Championships in the steeplechase for the fourth consecutive season. She earned All-America honors by placing fourth in 2013. She was 13th in 2012 and took 17th in 2014 despite an injury. She placed second in her preliminary heat this week to automatically advance into the final on Saturday.

Freeby ran at four consecutive NCAA Championships in cross country. She received All-America status in the fall of 2013 when she placed eighth in the nation. She won NWC and West Regional individual titles in 2013, and was named 2013 West Region Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year.

She placed second in the West Region in 2014. She took ninth place in the West Region in 2011 and 2012.She helped the Bearcats win NWC cross country team titles in 2013 and 2014. She contributed to WU taking the West Region team title in 2014. She also was involved in the Bearcats placing 12th in the NCAA in 2013 and 15th in 2014.

Taylor Ostrander (Jr.) is majoring in Exercise Science at Willamette. Prior to the spring semester, she owned a 3.77 cumulative GPA.

She is competing at the NCAA Championships in track and field for the third consecutive season. She took 11th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2014 after placing 22nd in 2013. This year, she placed seventh in her preliminary heat and advanced to the final as one of four at-large qualifiers.

Her career-best time in the steeplechase is 10:40.86 at the Oregon Twilight meet in 2014. Her top time this season is 10:52.24 from the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. She entered the NCAA Championships with the 14th fastest time in Division III this season.

Ostrander won the NWC title in the 5,000-meter run this season and was second in the steeplechase and the 10,000-meter run. At this year's NWC Championships, she took first place in the NWC in the steeplechase and the 5,000, and finished second in the 1,500.

Last fall, she made her third straight appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. She placed 41st in the nation in 2013 and was 64th in 2014. She helped the Bearcats place 12th in the NCAA team standings in 2013 and 15th this past season.

Ostrander also participated in Willamette's NWC team championships in cross country in 2013 and 2014. At the West Regional last fall, she placed fifth individual as Willamette took the team title.

CoSIDA District VIII

CoSIDA District VIII includes colleges and universities in the western United States. Athletes nominated for the Capital One Academic All-District Team were starters or key reserves with cumulative GPAs of 3.3 or higher (4.0 scale). Each athlete was at her current college or university for at least one academic year.