Nov. 5, 2009

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State volleyball player Shantell Durrant has been named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District VIII second team it was announced on Thursday.

Durrant joins Erin Birmingham of New Mexico State and Kanani Danielson of Hawai'i as the only players from the Western Athletic Conference to earn academic all-district honors as all three players were named to the second team in their respective regions.

Durrant was also one of just three players from the state of Utah honored as BYU's Melissa Wright and Nicole Warner were both named to the third team in District VIII.

It is the third year in a row that Utah State has had at least one player earn academic all-district honors as Rebecca Anderson was named to the second-team in both 2007 and 2008, while junior middle blocker Katie Astle earned second team honors in 2008.

Durrant, a junior middle blocker from American Fork, Utah (American Fork HS/Washington), has a cumulative 3.83 grade-point average in psychology. She currently leads the team with 102 total blocks and ranks seventh in the WAC in hitting (.276) and ninth in blocking (1.13).

District VIII is made up of schools from Arizona, California, Hawai'i, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.