Norton joins nation’s elite

Albany’s Kami Norton was one of three women across the country to be named as a Women’s Scholar Athlete of the Year in NCAA Div. II Track and Field, a first for any female athlete at Angelo State University in San Angelo.

Selected from a field of 405 female athletes across the country, Norton was joined by Alicja Konieczek of Western State Colorado University and Caroline Kurgart of the University of Alaska at Anchorage.

Scholar Athletes of the Year were selected as the highest finishing performers at the NCAA Div. II Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships who achieved All-Academic status.

Norton swept the competition among both indoor and outdoor field competitors to become the first Div. II athlete to take both indoor and outdoor field honors in NCAA history.

Norton, who graduated in May with a degree in kinesiology, posted a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA to collect the Women’s Indoor Field School Athlete of the Year. She is currently attending Texas Tech University to earn a degree in Occupational Therapy.

She won the pentathlon with a total of 3,983 points in the NCAA DIV. II Indoor Track and Field Championship, and then won the heptathlon during the outdoor championship with a total of 5,366 points.

She also won her second consecutive Lone Star Conference Fred Jacoby Female Academic Athlete of the Year, along with both the Indoor and Outside Track and Field Academic Player of the Year awards for the LSC.

Norton has been nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, which will be announced later this month.

She is the daughter of Dwayne and Ginger Norton of Albany.