Utah Track and Field Earns Academic Honors

4/11/2016 12:00 AM | Track & Field

April 11, 2016

WOODLAND, Calif.- The Utah track and field team had 12 student-athletes named to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Track All-Academic team.

"I am proud of our student-athletes who were selected," Utah head coach Kyle Kepler said. "Honestly, it is not really a surprise. We have such a good group of kids, in terms of being focused on their academics and athletics. I think our kids do a great job at that and I know that we had a few more that just missed the cut. Our team certainly understands that there are two sides of being a student-athlete and they put a lot of effort and pride into what they do in both areas. We look forward to continued success in the classroom with all of our gals."

The Utes were one of nine teams (out of 19) to have at least 10 student-athletes named to the team.

To achieve all-academic status, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA and be at least a sophomore academically with one full academic year at the institution prior to the season for which the award is being received. Athletes must also have competed in fifty percent or more of the meets.

Utah had seven distance runners named to the team: junior Makenzie Clark, sophomore Shaylen Crook, sophomore Dakota Grossman, redshirt senior Nikki Rietz, junior Becky Sarmiento, senior Katelyn Stringfellow, and sophomore Sadie Wassum. Three sprinters and middle distance earned honors: senior Allison Aafedt, junior Alissa Atisme and redshirt senior Ali Eisenbeiss. Two hurdlers were also named to the team in sophomore Madison Lanford and junior Christine Van Brocklin.