Dezerea Bryant, Kendra Harrison Named Academic All-Americans
June 25, 2015
EUGENE, Ore. – Three Kentucky Wildcats – Dezerea Bryant, Kendra Harrison and Raymond Dykstra – were named to the 2015 Captial One Academic All-America Team in track and field on Thursday.
Bryant and Harrison – already semifinalists for the college track’s most prestigious individual award: The Bowerman – were named to the first team. Dykstra was named to the second team.
The Academic All-America teams were selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
With Thursday’s three Academic All-America selections, UK has now had four Academic All-Americans in the three years Edrick Floréal has been track and field head coach in Lexington. Chelsea Oswald earned second-team honors in 2013.
Dezerea Bryant graduated in May with a 3.5 GPA in Community and Leadership Development. Her final act in NCAA competition was setting the low-altitude collegiate record in the 200m, winning the National Title in 22.18 seconds. She was the 2014 NCAA Indoor 200m Champion, and a 2014 USTFCCCA All-Academic selection. She bumped up her GPA to over a 3.5 since coming to UK while developing into a NCAA-Champion athlete. A Seventeen-time All-American, she was named to 2014 SEC Academic Honor Roll.
Harrison also finished her degree in May with a 3.5 GPA in Community and Leadership Development. She won the NCAA Titles in the 60m hurdles and 100m hurdles this season, going undefeated in each of those events all year. Harrison was selected to the SEC Honor roll and the USTFCCCA All-Academic team in 2014. She became a 3.538 student at UK while going undefeated in SEC hurdles races. A five-time SEC Champion in hurdles races (2014 60h, 100h and 400h, 2015 60h and 100h), she has the SEC records in the 60h and the 100h. She wrapped her career as the third fastest 60h and 100h collegian ever and the fifth fastest long hurdler ever – the only woman to rank top-5 all-time in all three events.
Dykstra graduated last month with a 3.5 GPA in Kinesiology (exercise science). He was the 2014 SEC Javelin Champion and Canadian National Champion. That season he also finished as the NCAA Javelin Silver Medalist. Dykstra is a multiple-times USTFCCCA All-Academic selection and a four-time first team All-America. Additionally he was UK’s 2015 men’s nominee for the prestigious McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award and 2015 “Mr. Wildcat” at the CATSPYs, the highest individual honor the UK Athletics Department can bestow. Additionally he’s been named to the SEC Honor Roll multiple times.
Bryant and Harrison are competing at the USA Track and Field Championships this week, while Dykstra will compete in the Canadian Championships as well as the Pan-American Games, both in Canada, later this summer.
