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Cross Country Earns NCAA DII Highest Team GPA, All-Academic Honors

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School News

February 28, 2019

The Walsh University men's and women’s Cross Country Teams continue to earn national recognition for their athletic achievements on the course and their scholarly accomplishments in the classroom.

Most recently, the men’s team was recognized for achieving the Highest Team GPA for 2018 NCAA Division II by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Both the men's and women's teams were named All-Academic Teams for the 2018 season. As a whole team, the men earned a 3.49 GPA and the women a 3.62 GPA.

Team GPAs were calculated from the grades of all team members from the spring 2018 semester. The men's GPA was the highest of all 34 teams that competed at the NCAA Division II National Championships in Pittsburgh last month, where Walsh placed 18th.

"We are extremely proud of our student-athlete achievements in the classroom. This award was a pleasant surprise for us," said Cross Country and Track & Field Head Coach Rob Mizicko. "We put a lot of emphasis on our success in the classroom, as much as we do our success on the cross country course. As a program, we are extremely proud of this academic honor. All credit goes out to our hardworking men and women that keep the strong academic tradition alive."

The 2018 NCAA Division II All-Academic Individual and Team Awards were released on February 14. According to the USTFCCCA requirements, students are honored with an All-Academic Award for both athletic and scholarly achievements.

In order to qualify for this honor, student-athletes must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.25 and finished among the top 30 percent of eligible runners at his or her regional championships and/or the top half of the field at the NCAA Championship meet. Other teams to earn All-Academic team awards were programs who had a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 and scored at an NCAA Division II regional meet during the season.

The following 10 student-athletes were named as All-Academic from the 2018 cross country season, listed with majors: