June 25, 2004

The University of Texas at Arlington senior distance runner Eric Petersson became the third student-athlete named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-American first-team in school history by being named to the prestigious list recently.

The Goteborg, Sweden native qualified for the 2004 NCAA Midwest Regional after winning the 5000 meters with a time of 14:37.32 in the Southland Conference (SLC) outdoor meet. Tabbed the league's male cross country athlete of the year in 2003, he finished seventh at the SLC cross country championship and went on to a 17th-place showing at the NCAA cross country regional. At the 2004 SLC Indoor event, Petersson finished third in both the 3000 meters (8:32.52) and 5000 meters (14:56.48). He also holds the school record in the indoor and outdoor 5000 meters with times of 14:31.98 and 14:26.20, respectively, at UTA. Petersson, who was selected to the 2004 CoSIDA Academic District VI team, graduated with a 3.93 GPA in international business with an emphasis in french.

Petersson was named to the 16-member first-team by a nationwide vote of Division I sports information directors and academic advisors.

Earlier in the week, Petersson was named the SLC Men's Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year. He joined women's track and field standout Kajsa Haglund who was named the SLC Women's Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year.

Petersson, joins men's tennis player David Corrie as first-team all-Americans this year. They join Lisa Verheul (1999) as the only first-team academic all-Americans in UTA history. Other academic all-Americans include: Bruce Marshall (baseball/1976), Richard Valenta (baseball/1980), B.G Wilson (baseball/1995 and 1996), John Karant (baseball/1996) and Scott Cross (men's basketball/ 1997 and 1998).