July 14, 2009

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee's Sarah Bowman has done it again. Several weeks ago, she earned Southeastern Conference Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors for the second consecutive season. On Tuesday, the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) named Bowman its NCAA Division I Indoor Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second straight campaign.

Bowman, who hails from Warrenton, Va., earned a 3.87 grade point average in business, with emphasis in human resource management. She was one of 47 Big Orange student-athletes in 12 sports to earn her diploma on May 8.

Also joining Bowman as members of the 531-member USTFCCCA All-Academic Track & Field Team were junior Jackie Areson (Delray Beach, Fla.), senior Alicia Essex, junior Lynne Layne, freshman Chanelle Price, senior Katie Van Horn (Glendora, N.J.), freshman Ellen Wortham (Maryville, Tenn.) and junior Phoebe Wright (Signal Mountain, Tenn.). To qualify for the squad, each student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and have met either the NCAA Division I Indoor automatic or provisional qualifying standard or the NCAA Division I Outdoor regional or national qualifying standard in their respective event.

In addition to her Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors from the SEC and USTFCCCA, Bowman earlier was named an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American for the second year in a row and Academic All-District IV for the third time. This season, she earned first-team Academic All-America honors after garnering second-team status in 2008.

Nationally, Bowman has anchored the past two NCAA champion distance medley relay units, including a 2009 quartet that set a world record. She also won the mile run in meet-record time in 2009 and led Tennessee to a high profile trio of baton-event wins at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. During that haul, Bowman helped Tennessee win the DMR, set a world record in the 4x1500m and chart an American record in the 4x800m.

At the SEC level, Bowman became the first SEC woman to win three straight league indoor titles in the mile, 3000m and DMR. Outdoors, she won her second straight and third overall 1500m crown and placed fifth in the 800 meters. She tied LaVonna Martin for the school record with 12 overall triumphs at the conference level.

Also a standout in cross country, Bowman is a four-time All-SEC performer (2005-09) and has three times garnered All-South Region kudos (2006-08). She helped UT claim SEC and NCAA South Region cross country titles in 2005 and make NCAA appearances in 2005 and 2006. In 2009, she became UT's first All-American in nine seasons when she finished 36th at the national meet.

BOWMAN LOWERS UT 1500-METER RECORD IN GREECE

ATHENS, Greece -- Sarah Bowman, who has yet to sign a professional contract, broke her year-old University of Tennessee record in the 1500 meters on Monday while competing in the Athens Grand Prix Tsiklitiria at Olympic Stadium.

The former Lady Vol standout clocked a time of four minutes, 5.67 seconds to finish ninth in a top flight international competition that is part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour. Bowman eclipsed her former UT mark of 4:07.50, which she recorded at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships, and topped her prior season best of 4:11.68, which she ran on Saturday at the Kortrijk Guldensporenmeeting in Belgium.