May 24, 2007

Los Angeles, CA (May 24) - Loyola Marymount senior Stacia Peterson, the 2007 Western Water Polo Association Player of the Year, has earned first-team Academic All-District 8 honors by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Peterson earned her degree in History and 2006 with a 3.71 grade point average and is currently working towards her Masters of Education in Special Education, where she has a 4.0 GPA.

After a medical redshirt year served in 2006 due to a back injury, Peterson returned for a fifth year in 2007 and led the Lions to their sixth WWPA championship in seven years. The Lions finished the season 27-7 overall, advancing to the program's sixth NCAA tournament.

Peterson finished the season with 66 goals, tied for the third most in a single season in program history with fellow teammate Nicole Hughes. In her career, Peterson finished with 227 goals, second most in the 10 years of the program. She also played in 137 games in her career (most by any player), 134 kicks-outs drawn and 26 assists.

She is just the fifth player in LMU history to play in four NCAA tournaments. She made trips to the NCAAs in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007.

As a first-team selection, Peterson is now eligible to earn Academic All-America honors. There are eight districts total with 10 members each, with 80 student-athletes eligible for the honor. Voting begins May 30.

CoSIDA selects Academic All-America teams in 12 programs: football, women's volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's track & field/cross country, women's track & field/cross country, men's at-large and women's at-large. A first team, second team and third team are selected in both the University (Division I and I-AA) and College (Division II, III and NAIA) Divisions. Football consists of just first and second teams.

AT-LARGE PROGRAM Eligible sports are women's bowling, women's crew, men's and women's fencing, women's field hockey, men's and women's golf, men's and women's gymnastics, men's and women's ice hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's rifle, men's and women's skiing, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, men's volleyball, men's and women's water polo and men's wrestling.

In the at-large program, nominations are limited to three per school per gender. Thus, each institution may nominate a total of three men's at-large candidates and three women's at-large candidates. If an institution participates in both the college and the university divisions, it may nominate a total of three men and three women between the two divisions. There is no limit to the number of candidates that may be nominated for a particular sport.

NOMINATION CRITERIA To be nominated, the student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for his/her career. No athlete is eligible until he/she has reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution (thus, true freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible transfers are not eligible). In the cases of transfers, graduate students and junior college graduates, the athlete must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to be eligible.

District 8 Winners
University Division
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Dale Gammie	HAWAII, UNIVERSITY OF AT MANOA	VIII	Sr.	Pukalani, Hawaii	3.93	Business
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Keegan Fitzgerald	OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY	VIII	Jr.	Beaverton, Ore.	3.98	Biology option in genetics/Honors College
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Ali Carter	NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY	VIII	So.	Phoenix, Ariz.	4.00	Elementary Education
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Stephanie Bengson	LONG BEACH STATE UNIVERSITY	VIII	Jr.	Albion Park, NSW, Australia	3.94	Psychology
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Stacia Peterson	LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY	VIII	Gr.	Mundelein, Ill.	3.71, 4.0 (grad)	Masters of Education in Special Education
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Anca Anastasiu	SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, UNIVERSITY OF	VIII	Sr.	Pretoria, South Africa	3.88	Business Administration
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Alex McGoodwin	CALIFORNIA, UNIVERSITY OF LOS ANGELES (UCLA)	VIII	Sr.	Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.	3.91	Geography and Environmental Studies
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Carey Homan	WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY	VIII	Gr.	Deer Park, Wash.	3.92, 3.81 (grad)	Business (undergrad), Accounting(grad)
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Susan McClelland	NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY	VIII	Sr.	Edina, Minn.	4.00	Chemistry
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Leah Sakhitab	SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY	VIII	Sr.	Rochester, Minn.	3.92	English Education
ALL POSITIONS/EVENTS	Caitlin Andrew	ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY	VIII	Jr.	San Antonio, Texas	3.76	Biology