Tusculum’s Holzapfel, Lenoir-Rhyne’s Griewisch Named Scholar-Athletes For Cross Country

ROCK HILL, SC - Two of the very best cross country runners in the South Atlantic Conference have also distinguished themselves in the classroom. Lenoir-Rhyne University's Kate Griewisch and Tusculum College's Simon Holzapfel have been selected as the 2009 South Atlantic Conference Scholar Athletes for men's and women's cross country.

Holzapfel, a junior from Nuremberg, Germany (Neves Gymnasium Nuremberg) has been one of the top runners in the conference this season. He won four individual titles this year, including the Trailblazer Invitational last week. He won the 8,000-meter race with a school-record time of 26:17.33, outdistancing himself from the second place runner by 1:25. He has won a school record nine individual titles in his career and owns eight of the top ten 8K times in school history, including the top six. He won Saturday's Food Lion SAC Cross Country Championship with a time of 25:53.96

Simon Holzapfel

Kate Griewisch

In 2008, he garnered All-NCAA Division II Southeast Region honors and finished runner-up in the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference championship.

Holzapfel has a 4.00 cumulative grade point average majoring in Sport Management & Sport Science and was a 2008-09 Academic All-American. He was the 2008-09 recipient of the Duffield Award, presented to the Tusculum student-athlete with highest GPA, and was named the Tusculum College Freshman Student-Athlete of the Year Academic Award in 2008 and has been named to numerous honor rolls.

Holzapfel serves as a senator for the Tusculum Student Government Association and a campus tutor. He is a member of the Tusculum President's Society, where he serves as student ambassador. He also serves as a resident assistant and is a member of a campus group that works on protecting the environment, recycling and energy saving. He also volunteers at a local nursing home with painting and other projects, and fundraising projects at a local elementary school.

Griewisch is a sophomore from Banner Elk, N.C. (Avery County HS) and was named SAC Runner of the Week five times this season, winning the award every week she ran a race. She won the Asics-Winthrop Fall Classic in Rock Hill, S.C., against a field of mostly NCAA Division I competition. Griewisch finished second in last year's Food Lion SAC Championship race and was named league freshman of the year in addition to earning NCAA Division II All-Southeast Region honors. She won the 2009 Food Lion SAC Championship meet on Saturday with a time of 18:27.12, winning by one minute, 48 seconds.

She is a biology major with a 3.88 GPA. She is on the Lenoir-Rhyne Dean's List and is a recipient of the Martin Luther Fellows Our College-Our Future scholarship.

Griewisch is a member of the Lenoir-Rhyne Student Government Association, serving on the finance committee and the Lutheran Student Movement. She also is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Campus Crusade for Christ, and Sophomore Girls' Bible Study. She has volunteered in several service projects, including at a Lutheran home and Big Sweep, a community clean-up project.

The South Atlantic Conference Scholar Athlete Award is presented to one athlete from each of the conference's 14 sport programs and represents a combination of athletic skill, academic achievement and participation in community service and leadership. The SAC faculty athletic representatives committee selects the winners.