BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Illinois Wesleyan senior Tara Clemens has been elected to the second team of the Capital One Academic All-American® squads for women's track & field/cross country.

Clemens is the 115th Illinois Wesleyan Academic All-American® since the program began in 1970, a total that is 12th among all participating colleges and universities. Earlier this year, Danny Kenny was a first team honoree for men's soccer. The complete list of IWU Academic All-Americans® is available here.

Clemens (Bloomington, Ill. /Bloomington HS), graduated with a 3.45 grade-point average as a business (marketing) major. She placed second in the recent NCAA Division III outdoor 800-meter finals and helped the 4x400 relay team to a fourth-place finish. She won the national indoor 800 at the NCAA meet and set a Drake Relays record and new school record in winning the 800 in the University/College Division in April.
She was the wiomen's track "Athlete of the Meet" at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin indoor championships as she was first in the 800 and the mile and ran on the first place medley relay team. She was also the top finisher in the 800 and 1,500 at the CCIW outdoor championships and in her career was the CCIW track "Athlete of the Week" seven times.

The 2013 Capital One Academic All-American® women's track & field/cross country teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) at their current institution.

This is the second year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.

The Capital One Division II and III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2012-13 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams program.