Michigan Tech Cross Country Receives USTFCCCA Academic Honors

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced the members of the 2018 NCAA Division II All-Academic Team. Ten members of the Michigan Tech cross country team were named to the men's and women's rosters. In addition, the men's and women's cross country teams received All-Academic honors, with the men's team earning a combined GPA of 3.41, while the women finished the season with a 3.61 GPA.

2018 was a very good season for the Michigan Tech cross country program, with the highlight of the year coming in the 2018 NCAA Division II Championships as the women's team finished seventh with 288 team points for their best placing at the National Championships in team history. In addition, the women's team finished third at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships and second in the GLIAC Championships, and the men's team placed seventh at Regionals and third at the GLIAC Championships.

Individually, Liz Bloch, Michelle Bollini, Emily Byrd, Sophia Farquhar, Gabrielle Feber, Carly Huggins, and Emily Vigil were all named to the Division II All-Academic Team for the women, while Luke Moore, Clayton Sayen, and Robbie Watling represent the Black and Gold on the men's side. To earn a place on the All-Academic Team, an athlete must finish the season with a GPA of 3.25 or higher and have finished among the Top 20 percent of runners in the regional championships and/or in the top half of the field at the NCAA Championships. Michigan Tech finished with seven women's runners receiving All-Academic honors, one of only three teams to have that many runners on the academic team.

All seven of the women's honorees competed for the Huskies at the 2018 NCAA Championships. Byrd became the first Michigan Tech women's All-American since 1993 and also earned USTFCCCA All-Region and All-GLIAC First Team honors. Bloch and Vigil both earned All-Region honors and were named to the All-GLIAC Second Team. Feber and Farquhar both earned All-GLIAC Second Team finishes, and Feber narrowly missed out on earning an All-American finish. Meanwhile, Huggins finished 153rd at Nationals and 58th at Regionals.

In the classroom, Byrd finished with a 3.78 GPA as an Environmental Engineering major. Additionally, Feber earned a 4.0 GPA as an Environmental Engineering major, Vigil earned a 3.90 GPA as a Mechanical Engineering major, Bloch possessed a GPA of 3.87 as a Biomedical Engineering major, Farquhar holds a 3.83 GPA as a Computer Science major, and Huggins finished the semester as an Environmental Engineering major with a GPA of 3.25.

On the men's side, Moore, Sayen, and Watling all ran for Michigan Tech in the Midwest Regional Championships. Sayen finished 31st in the race, while Moore finished 49th, and Watling took 67th. Watling finished the semester with a 4.0 GPA as a Computer Sciences major, Sayen earned a 3.76 GPA as an Engineering Management major, and Moore finished with a 3.73 GPA as a Biological Sciences major.