Local student wins All-American honors

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Homer Glen resident Liz Phillips earned two All-American finishes at the Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. | Submitted photo

Updated: October 31, 2011 11:49AM

Liz Phillips of Homer Glen, a junior at Washington University in St. Louis, earned two All-American finishes in the Division III NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. Phillips finished in sixth place in both the 800-meter and 1,500-meter races. She set a new school record in the 800-meter preliminaries at the NCAA meet with a time of 2:11.05, and she qualified for the 1,500-meter with a school-record time of 4:28.10.

With a 23rd place showing at the 2010 NCAA Division III cross country championships in the fall, Phillips helped the Bears record a program-best second-place finish at the national meet.

She also earned first-team All-University Athletic Association honors after leading Washington University to the conference championship with a fourth-place individual finish.

Phillips, a biomedical engineering major with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average, was named the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Elite 88 winner at the Indoor Track & Field Championships in March. The Elite 88 is an award presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average at each NCAA championship. There she helped the women’s distance-medley relay team capture second place in the nation and the relay’s qualifying time of 11:48.98 set a new school record.

Capping off a stellar academic and athletic year, on June 23 Phillips was selected to be a Capital One First-Team Academic All-American.

Lewis University names new scholar in Catholic studies

ROMEOVILLE — Lewis University President Brother James Gaffney announced the appointment of Brother Jeffrey Gros to the new position of Catholic studies scholar in residence.

Gros, a nationally recognized Christian ecumenist, will assume the position in the fall. Since 2006, Gros has served as distinguished professor of historical and ecumenical theology at the Memphis Theology Seminary.

In this position as Catholic studies scholar in residence Gros will foster creative, interdisciplinary research on ecumenism and on the Roman Catholic intellectual tradition, particularly in the context of the 325-year Lasallian educational tradition.