Gordon and Barrefors Named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans

Lincoln ? The Nebraska track and field team earned two CoSIDA Academic All-America awards on Tuesday, as Nicholas Gordon was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America first team and Bjorn Barrefors was a third-team selection. Overall, the Nebraska track and field team now has 33 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, with the men’s team accounting for 14 honorees.

 

A national champion in the long jump during the 2009 indoor season, Gordon continued to perform at a high level during his junior year under Head Coach Gary Pepin. A native of Kingston, Jamaica, Gordon took second in the long jump at both the indoor and outdoor Big 12 Championships in 2010. He also added a seventh-place finish in the outdoor triple jump at the conference meet to earn his eighth career All-Big 12 honor. Gordon made trips to the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships, where he recently captured his third-career All-America honor with an eighth-place finish in the outdoor long jump in Eugene, Ore.

 

While succeeding on the track, Gordon produced a 3.46 GPA as a political science major. He was a first-team academic All-Big 12 selection for the second straight year and was named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

 

A combined-event athlete from Stockholm, Sweden, Barrefors added a second straight third-place finish in the heptathlon at the 2010 Big 12 Indoor Championships and made a second consecutive appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the heptathlon. An All-American in the decathlon during his freshman year in 2009, Barrefors was set to repeat in 2010, but was forced to redshirt the outdoor season with a foot injury.

 

In the classroom, Barrefors majors in computer science and holds a 3.93 GPA. Along with being named to the first-team academic All-Big 12 and Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll lists, Barrefors was selected as the men’s NCAA Elite 88 Award winner for the 2010 indoor track and field season.

 

Gordon and Barrefors are the third pair of student-athletes to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in the same season for the men’s track and field team. The list also includes Issar Yazhibin and Nate Probasco (2007), Aaron Plas and Probasco (2006) as well as Danny Hill and Dana Carne (2004).

 

During the 2009-10 school year, seven Nebraska student-athletes have been named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, increasing Nebraska’s nation-leading total of CoSIDA Academic All-Americans to 276 across all sports. The Huskers will have a chance to add two more names to that list on Thursday, when the women’s track and field team is announced. Ashley Miller of Tipton, Iowa, and Natalie Willer of Elkhorn, Neb., are each finalists for the team.