All-Academic Teams | Women’s All-Academic Individuals | Men’s All-Academic Individuals
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico track & field team earned a number of academic accolades on Thursday as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its All-Academic Honors.
Courtney Frerichs continued to add to her trophy case by being named Scholar Athlete of the Year for Women’s Outdoor Track, while both the men’s and women’s team were recognized as All-Academic Teams.
Additionally, 10 women and nine men were awarded individual All-Academic honors.
The first honor, Frerichs’ Scholar Athlete of the Year, is awarded to the highest finishing performers at the NCAA Division I Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships who achieved All-Academic status.
Those who won individual championship titles ranked higher in the tie-breaking process and cumulative GPA was utilized as the final tiebreaker.
Frerichs, a senior from Nixa, Missouri, competed just outdoors for the Lobos, but posted a cumulative GPA of 4.17 during a season in which she won the NCAA title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in an NCAA record-setting time.
An Olympian in the steeplechase, Frerichs was also named a semifinalist for the Women’s Bowerman Award, the highest individual honor in collegiate track & field, and earned Mountain West Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year on Wednesday.
Additionally, the New Mexico men’s and women’s track teams earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors. The award recognizes teams that registered a cumulative team GPA of 3.00 or higher during the academic year.
The Lobo men recorded a team GPA of 3.46, good for second out of the 122 teams that were honored. The men were also just one of two Mountain West schools to be selected.
The UNM women, with a team GPA of 3.60, were one of six schools in the MW to earn the honor. The women tied for the 10th-best GPA out of the 220 Division I institutions that were recognized.
Individually, the Lobos also produced stellar academic results, with 19 student-athletes earning USTFCCCA All-Academic honors for their combined efforts in competition and in the classroom.
The individual award is awarded to student-athlete who attain a 3.25 GPA and either finished the regular season indoors ranked in the national top 96 in an individual event (as per the the official NCAA proof-of-performance list) or participated in any round of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships.
On the men’s side, nine student-athletes were recognized, including Elmar Engholm, Allan Hamilton, Yannick Roggatz, Sam Trigg, Daniel Lam, Adam Cotton, Dan Milechman, Graham Thomas and Scott Bajere.
The UNM men tied for the sixth-highest total of All-Academic Individuals in the nation.
For the New Mexico women, seven student-athletes met the criteria, including Holly Van Grinsven, Sophie Connor, Calli Thackery, Emily Hosker-Thornhill, Jannell Hadnot, Samantha Bowe, Courtney Frerichs, Zoe Howell, Aasha Marler and Alice Wright.
The Lobo women tied for the ninth-highest total of honorees.