EOU’s Maggie Ledbetter Named CSC First Team Academic All-American
By Garrett Christensen on Wednesday, July 5th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (Release from Eastern Oregon University) College Sports Communicators (formerly known as CoSIDA- College Sports Information Directors of America) announced the 2022-23 Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field Academic All-Americans on Wednesday morning. Eastern Oregon University’s Maggie Ledbetter earned the honor for the first time in her career.
The award is given to athletes with the best combined performances in competition and in the classroom around the nation.
“What a nice way for Maggie to cap off an outstanding college experience, both academically and athletically,” Head Coach Ben Welch said.
Ledbetter put together historic seasons in her final indoor and outdoor campaigns.
Earlier this spring at the 2023 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships the graduate student earned All-American honors in the weight throw finishing eighth with a throw of 16.69 meters. It was the second indoor All-American performance of her career (first came in 2020 – shot put). Earlier in the season Ledbetter also set a new personal record moving up to third all-time in the EOU record books with a throw of 16.76 meters.
Even more impressive was Ledbetter’s performance in the outdoor season. The Cove, Oregon product was one of the most dominant throwers in the nation. She claimed two CCC Championship titles in the shot put and discus and finished second in the conference in the hammer throw. After leading the nation in the shot put for a large part of the season, Ledbetter doubled down at the National Championships shattering her own EOU record on her way to becoming EOU’s first ever national champion in the women’s shot put with a throw of 15.47 meters. Her mark was the furthest at the National Championships since 2018.
Along with stellar performance in competition, Ledbetter was also a standout in the classroom. The graduate student maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA while working towards her Master of Arts in Teaching.
The NAIA Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NAIA national governance structure to assist the CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2022-23 NAIA Academic All-America® program.
