USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams | USTFCCCA All-Academic Individuals

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's cross country team earned U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic status, it was announced Thursday.
 
It was the 11th time in as many years under head coach Ward Berndt that the Cardinals have earned All-Academic standards.
 
And that wasn't the only streak to be extended, as senior Katie Stolz (Forest Lake, Minn.) collected her second straight individual All-Academic honor, after earning all-region honors with her school record-setting effort in the 6K at last November's NCAA Central Regional.
 
To be named USTFCCCA All-Academic, an individual must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.30 and have finished in the top 25 percent of finishers at regionals.
 
For a team to be considered for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team award, they must have a cumulative GPA or 3.10 or greater and competed in at least five different meets with at least five runners representing their school at each.
 
The Cardinal women boasted a 3.44 GPA and were one of 12 MIAC women's teams earning All-Academic honors. Stolz, meanwhile, was one of 25 female runners from the MIAC among the 325 individual recipients.

No conference for either gender had more teams honored than the MIAC, which had 12 women's squads earn the distinction. Four leagues tied for second with nine apiece in the Northwest Conference, the Centennial Conference, the Middle Atlantic Conference and the NESCAC.

The Johns Hopkins women and the North Central (Ill.) men were named USTFCCCA Division III Scholar Teams of the Year for the 2014 cross country season. The national champion Blue Jays are among 211 women's programs and the national champion Cardinals are among 152 men's programs that earned All-Academic team honors.

Those two programs won their distinction by being the highest-finishing teams at NCAAs to have at least a 3.1 cumulative grade point average. Hopkins's women had a 3.31 team GPA and four All-Academic individuals, while North Central's men had a 3.24 team GPA to go with two All-Academic individuals.

National champions Amy Regan of Stevens Institute and Grant Wintheiser of St. Olaf added Division III Scholar Athlete of the Year awards to the national titles by being the best individual finishers at the 2014 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships with a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or higher.

Wintheiser's St. Olaf squad led men's programs with seven All-Academic individuals, while three women's teams were represented by seven honorees each—Calvin, Chicago and Williams.