DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University men's and women's cross country teams recently added another chapter to their legacy of academic excellence with the teams collecting four more academic honors.
As a team, both the men's and women's programs earned Scholar Team honors from the U.S. Track & Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for achieving a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher during the fall semester. The women's program boasted a team GPA of 3.75, the fifth highest mark in nation. The men's team also recorded the fifth best men's team GPA in the nation at 3.67. Drake is the only program in the nation to have both its men's and women's program finish in the top-five nationally and just one of two programs to place both teams in the top-10 nationally.
"This is an extremely dedicated group of young men and women that works extremely hard in and out of the classroom," said Drake head coach Dan Hostager. "It's great to see them get recognized nationally for their accomplishments."
The honor was the 16th-straight for the men's team and eighth in the last nine years for the women's program.
Individually, Brogan Austin (Boone, Iowa) was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic team as one of just 91 men in the nation to earn the honor. Honorees must have compiled a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 and have finished in the top 25 finishers (or 10 percent) at regionals or as an All-American at the national meet. Austin was one of four MVC student-athletes to earn the award.
Finally, the women's cross country team was again honored by Drake University with the prestigious Provost's Award, given annually to the Drake program that records the highest team GPA. The Bulldogs earned the award for the second-consecutive season thanks to their 3.75 GPA.
The academic honors come on the heels of the team collecting multiple awards at the conclusion of the season at the MVC Championship. Austin was named the recipient of the conference's Elite 18 Award, given to the cross country student-athlete with the highest combined finish and grade point average. He also earned a spot on the league's Scholar-Athlete team along with Rob McCann (Mississauga, Ont.), Reed Fischer (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Krista Maguire (Wausau, Wis.).
