Missouri S&T senior Jordan Henry, who has earned numerous awards following his senior year at the university, has one more that he can add to his resume -- ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors.
Henry, a native of St. Charles, Mo. (Francis Howell North) was named today to the first team on the Academic All-America squad, marking the second straight year that he has earned a spot on the team. Henry was a second-team selecton to the 2008 team.
The recent honor comes on the heels of Henry's selection as the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award winner as the top men's student-athlete in the GLVC and as the GLVC's Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men’s track and field for the second consecutive year.
Henry, an electrical engineering major at Missouri S&T, earned a pair of top-five finishes this season in the pole vault at the two NCAA Division II championship meets. He finished as the national runner-up for the second year in a row during the national indoor meet in Houston in March, then wrapped up his career by finishing fifth in the event and tying his own school record of 17-0 3/4 in the process last month at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in San Angelo, Texas.
He finished his career as the winner of five All-America awards in the pole vault during his four years at Missouri S&T.
Prior to this season, Henry had earned All-America awards in the pole vault at the NCAA’s indoor meet in 2007 and 2008 and the 2008 Outdoor Championships. He was seventh in the 2007 indoor meet and second in 2008, then placed fourth at last year’s outdoor meet.
In addition to his performance at the national level, Henry was also been a top competitor at the conference level where he finished among the top four at all eight of the GLVC championship meets he has taken part in over the last four seasons. He has won league titles in the event four times, including the 2009 outdoor meet when he initially set the Missouri S&T outdoor school record.
Henry was also a league champion in the indoor heptathlon this year – the first year that the conference has contested that event at its indoor championships – and finished among the top six in the long jump at each of the last two GLVC Outdoor Championships. His performance at the 2009 indoor meet earned Henry the "Male Athlete of the Year" award from the conference.
In addition to his athletic accomplishments, Henry has also been an outstanding student at Missouri S&T. A member of the university’s honor roll, he has been named to the electrical engineering department’s academic scholar list in all four years at S&T as well as a scholar-athlete through the university’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Henry was also a three-time academic all-district selection in track and field and was named to the GLVC's All-Academic team in all four seasons he competed for the Miners.
At Missouri S&T, Henry has served as the men’s track & field team’s representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, on the Chancellor’s Leadership Academy, and is a member of the Eta Kappa Nu, Phi Kappa Phi and Tau Beta Pi honor societies. In addition, he has served as a mentor during the university’s orientation week and as an undergraduate research assistant for the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering at S&T.
Henry is the second Missouri S&T student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors during the 2008-09 school year -- Brandon Cogan, a member of the Miner baseball team, was the other -- and 31st in this decade. S&T ranks among the top 10 in NCAA Division II for the number of Academic All-America selections since 2000.