Griz cross country teams honored by USTFCCCA
2/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
The Montana men's and women's cross country squads both were named All-Academic Teams this week by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
To be eligible for the annual award, teams must have competed at NCAA regionals in November and have a cumulative team GPA of at least 3.0.
The latter requirement was no problem for the Grizzlies. The women's team has a cumulative GPA of 3.78, the men's team a 3.36.
Only South Carolina, at 3.79, made the list with a better GPA than Montana, which tied for second with Oregon State. The Beavers also registered a 3.78.
In all, 226 NCAA Division I women's programs were recognized, along with 179 men's teams.
The Michigan State women and Stanford men earned the USTFCCCA's Scholar Team of the Year awards for being the programs that finished highest at the NCAA championships and also were named All-Academic.
The Spartans won the national championship in November at Terre Haute, Ind., and have a 3.39 GPA. The Cardinal was runner-up in the men's race. It has a 3.43 team GPA.
Kate Avery of Iona and Oregon's Edward Cheserek were named the Division I Scholar-Athletes of the Year. Both were individual national champions and both met the USTFCCCA requirement of 3.25 needed to be eligible for the award.
Avery, a junior majoring in marketing, has a GPA of 3.48. Cheserek, a sophomore majoring in business administration, has a GPA of 3.3.
Seven of the 12 schools in the Big Sky Conference had both their women's and men's programs earn All-Academic Team honors. Joining Montana with that distinction were Idaho, Idaho State, Montana State, North Dakota, Southern Utah and Weber State.
Making up the Montana women's cross country team in the fall were seniors Keli Dennehy, Heather Fraley, Allie Parks and Carly Wilczynski, junior Autumn Taniguchi, sophomores Reagan Colyer and Lauryn Wate and freshmen Jessica Bailey, Emily Cheroske, Megan Franz and Christina Seas.
The dozen athletes on the men's team were senior Ben Williamson, juniors Joe Lesar, Reid Longley, Michael Managhan, Mark Messmer and David Norris, sophomores Paden Alexander, Micah Drew, Cody Curtis and Adam Wollant and freshmen Dawit Mengistu and Nathan Wellington.
Players Mentioned
