Bearcat Cross Country teams Earn USTFCCCA All-Academic Honors for 2016
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Another strong semester in the classroom has earned the Willamette University men's and women's cross country teams recognition for their academic success from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Both of Willamette's teams have achieved All-Academic honors for the 2016 season.
Two members of the Willamette women's cross country, Olivia Mancl (Sr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) and Hannah Swanson (Jr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) have received individual All-Academic recogntion from the USTFCCCA.
Nationwide 216 women's cross country teams and 173 men's cross country teams in NCAA Division III were chosen for the All-Academic team award. A team had to achieve at least a 3.1 cumulative team grade point average and register a team score at an NCAA Regional meet in order to earn All-Academic status.
The Willamette women's team recorded a 3.59 cumulative team GPA. The Bearcat men's team finsihed the fall semester with a 3.32 cumulative team GPA.
Johns Hopkins University (Md.) received the NCAA Division III women's Scholar Team of the Year Award. The men's Scholar Team of the Year Award went to North Central College (Ill.). Each year, the Scholar Team awards go to the teams earning All-Academic status that place highest at the NCAA Championships.
The women's team from Johns Hopkins and the men's team from North Central won the 2016 NCAA cross country titles. The Johns Hopkins women attained a 32.8 GPA, while the North Central men earned a 3.20 GPA.
At the NCAA West Regional, the Willamette men's and women's squads each finished fifth. Mancl was second in the women's 6-kilometer race and qualified for an individual berth into the NCAA Championships. Patrick Loftus (Jr., Santa Rosa, CA/Sonoma Academy) placed eighth in the men's 8-kilometer race and also received an individual bid to the NCAA Championships.
Mancl took 13th place at the NCAA Championships in Lousiville, Kentucky. She earned All-America honors for the second year in a row.
The Bearcats won the Northwest Conference men's championship for the fifth year in a row. In the women's competition, Willamette placed second in the NWC.
Head Coach Matt McGuirk was chosen Northwest Conference Men's Country Coach of the Year for the fifth consecutive season and for the 12th time since 2001.
A total of 374 student-athletes from Division III were chosen for the Women's All-Academic Team. Each All-Academic athlete qualified for the honor by achieving a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or higher, while finishing in the top 25% at an NCAA Regional cross country meet.
Mancl previously earned All-Academic recognition from the USTFCCCA in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Swanson also was an All-Academic selection in 2015.
In addition to registering All-America honors for the second year in a row, Mancl claimed her second consecutive NWC individual championship. Swanson took third place at the NWC Championships. Mancl and Swanson are majoring in Biology.
The USTFCCCA also announced the Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award winners, which went to the women's athlete and the men's athlete and who qualified for All-Academic status and placed highest at the 2016 NCAA Championships.
Amy Regan, a senior from Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.), who has a 3.58 GPA and is majoring in Engineering Management, was chosen as the Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Regan won the NCAA women's individual cross country championship for the second time in 2016. She also was the national champion and Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2014.
Tim Nichols, who is a senior majoring in Biology, Anthropology and Colonialism Studies at Tufts University (Mass.), was selected as the Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Nichols, who owns a 3.47 GPA, finished third in the men's race at the NCAA Championships this past fall. He won the individual title at the New England Regional.