LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. — Congratulations are in order for senior Kelsey Rouse, who was named the 2019 Jennifer Stary Character Award winner by the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Tuesday morning.
"I'm so proud of Kelsey for this high honor of winning the Jennifer Stary Award. I couldn't think of a better person to receive this award then Kelsey," said head coach Matt Lea. "Her hard work and dedication both on track and field and in the classroom is the reason that makes her the perfect recipient of this award!"
The character award is named in honor of 1980 Pomona-Pitzer graduate, Jennifer Stary, who was regarded one of the best SCIAC athletes in its inaugural years for women. This is the second Jennifer Stary Award for Cal Lutheran, with the honors bestowed to Melissa Skiba in 2015.
"Jennifer Stary was an amazing athlete and person who had many great achievements, and receiving the award this year was a huge honor, especially being a fellow multi athlete," said Rouse.
This season alone, Rouse has notched a new lifetime personal record in five different events to hold top-ten program records in each. Most recently, she cleared a career-best 1.62 meters at the SCIAC Championships in the high jump to take second in the event and rise to third in Cal Lutheran's record book.
Last year, she became just the third Regal in program history last season to qualify for the NCAA Division III national championships in the heptathlon and the latest since 2008, This year, she recorded a 4,441-point performance in the heptathlon at the Jim Klein Combined events to join the top-20 in the nation at No. 14.
She additionally holds the third best time in Cal Lutheran history in the 100-meter hurdles (15.26 seconds), sixth best distance in the long jump (5.54 meters), sixth best toss in the javelin throw (32.30 meters), and eighth best time in the 4x100 meter relay with Kendall Guidetti, Samantha Carranza and Ana Cordoba (48.94 seconds).
On top of her athletic accomplishments Rouse has maintained a 3.6 GPA in her Marketing/Communications major and has been a three-time member of the Cal Lutheran Scholar-Athlete Society.
SCIAC Release: SCIAC Women's Outdoor Track & Field All-Conference Honors Announced
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Release by Christy Effendie, Assistant Sports Information Director
