Vikings earn scholar athlete honors

This week the Big Sky Conference released its list of 2001 Scholar Athlete Award winners including Portland State University’s Melissa Telford and Chris Cain.

Telford was a four-time Academic All-Big Sky Conference honoree in cross-country and also earned All-Conference honors her sophomore and junior seasons. During those two seasons she led the Viking squad in every race that she participated in. Two yeas ago at the NCAA West Regional, Telford just missed becoming the first Viking cross country runner to advance to the Division I national meet by five seconds. This past season she still led Portland State in the majority of cross-country races that she was in, including the Big Sky and NCAA West Regional meets.

Telford, who is earning her master’s degree in teaching, also had great success in track and field while at PSU. Despite not competing last spring, she still earned four outdoor Academic All-Big Sky honors and two indoor Academic All-Big Sky honors.

Cain can add his latest academic honor to a long list of scholar and athletic awards. This past year the football player was named a first-team Academic All-American and first-team Academic All-District after a season in which he recorded 47 tackles and six sacks. He was named honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference and was an Academic All-Conference selection for the fourth time in his career.

Cain, a public health/business administration major, was a second-team Academic All-American and a first-team Academic All-District selection two seasons ago. He recorded 42 tackles his junior year and led the team in tackles for loss and sacks. He was named most valuable defensive linemen on the Vikings and was an honorable mention All-Big Sky selection. In his sophomore year, Cain started eight games and made 22 tackles and two sacks.