Jackson graduate Rushin earns SEC track and field honors at Missouri

~ Jill Rushin was named Scholar-Athlete of Year for outdoor track and field

Jackson High School graduate Jill Rushin, a redshirt junior at Missouri, has been named the Southeastern Conference Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the outdoor track and field season and awarded All-SEC first team.

Rushin, who is majoring in biological sciences and religious studies, has a 3.87 grade point average and has been among the nation's top throwers in the shot put and discus.

Rushin won the shot put at the SEC outdoor championships last week with a throw of 56 feet, 4 3/4 inches and placed third in the discus (172-10). It was the first SEC title for Rushin, who won two Class 4 high school state titles in the discus and one in the shot put while at Jackson.

She was the only female athlete from Missouri named to the 24-person All-SEC first team. Missouri did not place an athlete on the men's 22-member first team.

Rushin threw a career-best 57-9 3/4 in the shot put earlier in the outdoor season, which ranks second in the nation only to teammate Kearsten Peoples.

Rushin's strong outdoor season has come on the heels of her first-team All-American performance in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in March. She threw 55-2 3/4 at the indoor championships to place sixth.

Rushin will compete in both the shot put and discus at the three-day NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Preliminary Championships that begin Thursday in Fayetteville, Ark. The top 12 finishers in each event from the meet will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships (June 11 to 14) in Eugene, Oregon.