Oct. 9, 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt cross country runner Ellen Black and baseball player Alex Hilliard have been named two of 10 outstanding seniors in a vote by the student body. The winner will be announced at the homecoming football game against Georgia on Oct. 17. The game with the Bulldogs will kick-off at 11:20 a.m. CT.
It marks the second consecutive season that a Vanderbilt women’s cross country runner has been honored as an outstanding senior. Last season, Amanda Scott, Kellianne Kleeman and Sarah Scott garnered honors.
According to the Vanderbilt Programming Board Web site, the Outstanding Senior award highlights a senior level student who’s maintained a minimum GPA of 3.0, while best representing the university as a student leader during the annual Homecoming festivities and positively impacting their extracurricular organizations and the entire Vanderbilt Community. The Outstanding Senior Award is the only award on campus given that is both merit-based and student-selected, the site continued.
Black, a native of Marietta, Ga., is four-year member of the VU cross country and track and field teams and is majoring in political science in the College of Arts and Sciences. Off the course, Black serves as the treasurer of the Kappa Delta Sorority and is a member of the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity. Following graduation next spring, Black plans to attend law school.
Hilliard, an academic All-SEC outfielder for the baseball team was one of five guys selected as an outstanding senior. In November of 2008, Hilliard was named student-athlete of the month while balancing his field time with his studies in music education. The Lafayette, La., native is a talented musician off the field and spends time playing the tuba for “The Establishment Jazz Band” and Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also involved with the Student National Education Association.
