APPLETON, Wis. -- Lawrence University senior student-athlete Lisa Ritland has won the Midwest Conference's Ruth Peterson Award.
The Peterson Award is given every year to a female student-athlete who has the highest grade point average during their junior year and wins letters in at least two sports. The award is named for Ruth Peterson, a former commissioner of the Midwest Athletic Conference for Women and co-commissioner of the Midwest Conference.
Ritland, a native of Lodi, Wis., starred for the Vikings in tennis and both indoor and outdoor track and field. A mathematics major with a 3.7 grade point average, Ritland is a graduate of Lodi High School.
Ritland, who serves as team captain in both tennis and track, has been on the Dean's List every semester since 2006. She also is a member of Mortar Board, which is Lawrence's senior honor society. Ritland, who serves as the tennis representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, is the vice-president of Students' War Against Hunger and Poverty, a volunteer group at Lawrence. Ritland missed part of the outdoor track season in 2008 to study in Senegal and was then certified in August as a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher. She also volunteers as an English tutor at the Fox Valley Literacy Coalition.
This marks the second consecutive year Lawrence has won the Peterson Award, which was claimed by Lawrence softball, soccer, and cross country standout Catherine Marinac in 2007.