Saliga Tabbed for CoSIDA 3rd Team Academic All-American Honors
AUSTIN, Texas – Jason Saliga of the Michigan Tech men's track & field/cross country team has been selected for CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team honors, announced on Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Saliga, a senior distance runner from Leonard, Michigan, has been recognized twice at the district/regional level for his efforts on the track this season. Saliga was named to the 2017 NCAA Division II U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region Team on May 16th.
Saliga had strong performances in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase during the outdoor track season, recording a career best time of 9:05.83 at the Augustana College Viking Olympics on his way to a first place finish. The time also made him a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Division II Championships. Saliga was ranked 5th regionally in the Steeplechase and 25th nationally.
In addition to the 3000 Meter Steeplechase, he took home second place finishes in both the 5000 Meter Run (6:05.47, UNCW Seahawk Invitational) and the 2000 Meter Steeplechase (15:10.23, UNCW Seahawk Invitational).
On the cross country course, Saliga finished 23rd at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships 8k race (25:48.7) and landed in 54th place out of 219 runners at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships. His time of 32:01.52 at the regional meet was a team best of the Huskies in the 10k race.
Saliga, a Chemical Engineering major, owns a 3.87 GPA and was a GLIAC Academic All-Excellence honoree in cross country during the fall semester and track and field during the spring. In order to be nominated, a student-athlete must be a key contributor on the track/cross country course with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his current institution.
Twenty-three of the 45 members of the 2016-17 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division II Men's Track & Field/Cross Country teams have at least a 3.90 G.P.A., with six student-athletes maintaining a perfect 4.00 G.P.A. The 15 members of the first team have an average G.P.A. of 3.88.
The official CoSIDA press release can be viewed by clicking here.