NEW ORLEANS - Three Harding women's cross country team members were named to the USTFCCCA 2009 Cross Country All-Academic Team on Friday. Honored were senior Katy Grant, graduate student Gosia Hightower and sophomore Gladys Kimtai.

Grant is a native of Mustang, Okla., and is a social work major with a 4.00 grade point average. She was the individual champion at the Gulf South Conference meet and placed third at the NCAA South Region meet.

Hightower hails from Wloclawek, Poland and is a Spanish major with a 3.89 GPA. She earned All-GSC honors with a 16th-place finish at the conference meet and placed 25th at the regional meet.

Kimtai is from Eldoret, Kenya and is a biology major with a 3.57 GPA. She was 1st Team All-GSC with a fourth-place finish at the conference meet and earned All-Region honors, placing eighth at the regional meet.

To qualify for All-Academic honors, a student-athlete must have completed at least 12 semester/quarter hours through the semester of competition at the institution to be eligible.  The student-athlete must have at least a 3.25 cumulative grade point average and have placed in the top 30% of the total number of athletes eligible to compete at the respective regional championships or have placed in the top 50% of the field at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships.

Gladys Kimtai earned All-Academic Team honors to go with her All-GSC and All-Region awards.