Oct. 27, 1999

LUBBOCK, Texas - Eight Texas Tech Cross Country athletes were selected to the Big 12 All-Academic First Team according to a release from the Big 12 conference office. Leading the list for Texas Tech is a pair of athletes, Kristen Koppes and Tara Hangge, who are four-time selections to the conference all-academic team while another, Keeli Hanzelka, is the proud owner of a perfect 4.0 GPA

Koppes, a senior from Redding, Calif. is majoring in civil engineering while Hangge, from Yakima, Wash., is working on her master's degree in higher education. Hanzelka is a senior biology major from LaPort, Texas. The fourth Tech woman named to the team is Aimee Roberson, a senior exercise and sports science major from Aspermont, Texas.

The four Texas Tech men selected to the team are Gary Bodony, a senior from Rantoul, Ill., majoring in finance, Adrian Dodds (So., El Paso, Texas, family financial planning), George Odom (Sr., Cedar Hills, Texas, accounting) and Chris Thomas (Jr., Lubbock, history).

A total of 62 women and 42 men from conference schools were named to the team. The student-athletes must maintain a 3.2 GPA or better to be named to the first team while the second team consists of athletes who have between a 3.0 and 3.19. Freshman and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence.

TTU