Magazine honors Bigfork's Andrus

Former local track standout and current University of Montana senior Brooke Andrus has been honored by ESPN The Magazine for both academic and athletic excellence.

The 2006 Bigfork High graduate was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII women’s track and field/cross country second team the College Sports Information Directors of America announced Thursday. Andrus has a 3.94 grade point average as a journalism major.

She was one of 13 athletes from District VII on the second team.

Andrus is the seventh Montana student-athlete to earn ESPN The Magazine academic all-district honors this year. Erik Stoll and Brandon Fisher were first-team football selections in the fall, while Andrew Selle, Alex Verlanic and Bryan Waldhauser earned second-team honors.

Ryan Staudacher earned first-team men’s basketball honors in January.

Andrus, who has one season of cross country eligibility remaining, finished in Montana’s top four at all five meets last fall, with a 20th-place overall finish at the Big Sky Conference championships on the Grizzlies’ third-place team.

An 800-meter runner, Andrus had the best track seasons of her career this winter and spring.

At the Big Sky indoor championships in February, Andrus ran the 800-meter leg of Montana’s first-place distance medley relay team, then followed that up with a runner-up finish in the 800 meters.

At last month’s outdoor championships, Andrus ran to a third-place 800-meter finish, her third All-Big Sky Conference performance of the year and the fourth of her career.