Maurer & Olsen Named 2009 Men's Sports Information Directors of the Year

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Brown University's Lyndsey Maurer (Northern Division) and Johns Hopkins University's Jill Olsen (Southern Division) have been named the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Sports Information Directors of the Year for the 2009 men's season.

Selected by the CWPA Director of Communications, the SID of the Year award is presented to those offices which have achieved notable excellence in the field of water polo communications during the past academic year.

Jill Olsen (Johns Hopkins University)

The Southern Division Sports Information Director of the Year, Olsen is currently in her fourth year as the Assistant Sports Information Director at Johns Hopkins University where she is responsible for the coverage of 11 of the Blue Jays 24 varsity sports, including the Division I men's water polo and women's lacrosse programs.

This year, she coordinated the compilation of the national men's water polo statistics while covering the Eastern Championship qualifying and Division III Eastern Champion Blue Jays' water polo team.

She began her career in sports information as a graduate student at North Carolina State University. She spent two years as a student assistant in the NC State Media Relations office while pursuing her master’s degree in sports management. While at NC State, Olsen worked at the 2002 and 2003 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships as well as, the First and Second Rounds and the East Regional of the 2002 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. In addition, Olsen was the Media Relations Assistant for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 2002.

After graduating from NC State in 2003, Olsen took a position as the Associate Director of Sports Information at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. before relocating to Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University.

Lyndsey Maurer (Brown University)

Maurer came to Brown University in September of 2006 as an Assistant Director of Sports Information. She handles all media demands and publicity for several of Brown's 37 sports throughout the year, including men's and women's water polo.

Prior to Brown, Maurer worked at the Sun Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio where she served as both a news and sports reporter covering city politics and high school athletics. Before that, Maurer worked at Robert Falls & Company Public Relations.

A native of Broadview Heights, Ohio, Maurer is a 2004 graduate of St. Bonaventure University where she earned a B.A.in Journalism/Mass Communications and was a four-year member of the women's basketball team in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The award marks Maurer's second SID of the Year honor as she earned the Women's Co-Northern Division accolade in the spring.  Further, it marks the third award for Brown as Chris Hatfield garnered notice as the 2007 Men's Northern Division SID.