Varsity Athletics

BEREA, OHIO -- Baldwin-Wallace College junior cross country and track and field runner Jamie Luketic (Rootstown) has been selected as the STARR student-athlete for the month of December.

The STARR of the Month program stands for Student-athletes Taking Active Responsible Roles. The program was developed in conjunction with two NCAA-related programs: CHAMPS/Life Skills and the STARR pilot of which B-W is one of eight D-III grant recipients. The October STARR Student-Athlete of the Month was football offensive center Tom Kovacevich (Strongsville). The November STARR Student-Athlete of the Month was women's soccer player Kellie Corbett (Silver Lake/ Cuyahoga Falls).

The STARR of the Month Program recognizes student-athletes who are showing a great balance between athletic, academic, personal, service, leadership and other involvement. We, in CHAMPS/Life Skills, strive to focus on positive role-modeling among our student-athletes. Recipients must carry a 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA, be in at least their second year of competition at B-W and make positive contributions to the Campus and surrounding communities. We know our student-athletes excel in many areas and it is time to show the Campus and surrounding community how proud we are.

Luketic ran her third season of cross country in the fall and is expected to compete in her third season of indoor and outdoor track and field this winter and spring. She is a two-year letter winner in each sport.

In cross country, Luketic has helped B-W to OAC Championships in both 2001 and 2002 and a fourth place finish this fall. In addition, B-W also placed second at both the 2001 and 2002 NCAA Division III Great Lakes Region Meet and was an all-time school-best tied for eighth at the Div. III National Championship Meet in 2002. Individually as a freshman,Luketic's ran her first season of cross country and her best time was 22:34 at the Earlham (Ind.) Invitational. As a sophomore in 2002, Luketic earned her first letter and had her best time of 20:41 at the Cardinal Invitational at Otterbein College. As a junior in 2003, she had her best season as a collegian and placed 16th of 120 total runners at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship Meet in 24:28 and 62nd of 229 total runners at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Meet at Hanover (Ind.) College.

In track, Luketic is a two-year letter winner who runs distance races. Individually as a freshman in 2002, Luketic had indoor bests of 11:51.13 in the 3,000 meter run and 20:24.98 in the 5,000 meter run. Outdoors as a freshman, Luketic recorded bests of 5:13.87 in the 1500 meter run, 19:27.30 in the 5000 meter run and 40:45.00 in the 10,000 meter run. As a sophomore in 2003, she had an indoor personal best of 11:45.08 in the 3000 meters and season-best of 20:29.49 in the 5000 meters. Outdors as a sophomore, Luketic had a best of 2:35.64 in the 800 meter run.

In addition to excelling in two sports, Luketic is outstanding in the classroom and carries a 3.91 grade point average in speech pathology. As a freshman, she participated at the Newman Center Nursing Home. She is Vice President of the National Student Speech, Language, and Hearing Association. Luketic is also a member of the Dean's List, Alpha Lambda Academic Honor Society and the Laurels Honor Society and serves as the secretary of Laurels. She is also a clinician at the Ward Hall Speech and Hearing Clinic and does therapy with patients.

Ironically, last fall, Luketic earned national recognition in September of 2003 when she was running at a meet at Bowling Green and had a rock come up from off of the ground and get lodged in her throat. The coach at John Carroll, Mark McClure, helped to dislodge the stone and saved her life. The story was picked up by ESPN, CNN, all of the local Cleveland TV and radio stations, The Plain Dealer, Associated Press, USA Today and the New York Daily News. The incident did not stop Luketic as she competed the very next week, at Indiana (Pa.) University, and finished 13th of 42 total runners in 24:51.

Luketic is the daughter of Anthony and Jill Luketic of Rootstown.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact Baldwin-Wallace College Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at (440) 826-2327, by FAX at (440) 826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Cross Country and Track Coach Bill Traschke please call her at (440) 826-3322, FAX him at (440) 826