Track And Field Receives USTFCCCA Academic Individual Honors

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Track And Field Receives USTFCCCA Academic Individual Honors

Jul 30, 2018 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Program-record 17 Tigers earn All-Academic recognition from the organization.

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The University of Memphis track and field program continues to shine in the classroom, and further proof of that came Monday when the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its men's and women's All-Academic individual awards for 2017-18.

A program-record 17 Tigers student-athletes (11 men/6 women) earned USTFCCCA All-Academic distinction, the most honorees from an American Athletic Conference institution this year. Cincinnati was second in the league with 13 student-athletes on the list (5 men/8 women). The following are Memphis' USTFCCCA All-Academic individual honorees:

Men's Team	Women's Team
Noah Agnew	Saida Burns-Moore
Michael Criticos	Cera Chavez
Kolbeinn Gunnarsson	Nina de Poorter
Jason Kimmet	DeeNia McMiller
Adam Neelly	Ashley Pryke
Olushola Olojo	Martina Rodriguez Sala
Aaron Persinger
Julian Sanchez-Pinto
Rafael Vallery
Luke Vaughn
Jordan Wesner

It is the fourth-consecutive year and the fifth time in the last six seasons that Memphis had double-figure student-athletes named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic individual list. The Tigers had 12 in 2012-13, 13 in 2014-15, 15 in 2015-16 and 14 in 2016-17.

The Tigers' 17 honorees were tied for 14^thamong all NCAA Division I institutions and led all NCAA Division I schools in the state of Tennessee. The Volunteers track and field program was second with 10 USTFCCCA All-Academic individuals.

Rank	School	No./Honorees	Rank	School	No./Honorees
1	BYU	31		Princeton	19
2	Arkansas	30	12	Kentucky	18
3	Stanford	25		Wisconsin	18
4	N. Dakota St.	23	14	*Memphis*	17
5	Minnesota	21		Oregon	17
	Nebraska	21	16	Michigan St.	16
7	Penn State	20		Oklahoma St.	16
	Virginia Tech	20		Texas	16
9	Colorado St.	19		Utah St.	16
	Kansas	19

Last Thursday, the Tigers men's and women's squads received USTFCCCA All-Academic Team recognition. It was the seventh-straight year both teams earned the accolade.

Tigers Tidbits on USTFCCCA All-Academic Honorees

Among the American Athletic Conference programs, Memphis led the league in total honorees (17) and men's selections (11). The six women's honorees were second to Cincinnati's eight.
Of the 17 honored student-athletes, 11 made repeat appearances on the USTFCCCA All-Academic individual list. The 11 are: Michael Criticos (2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18), Cera Chavez (2016-17, 2017-18), Kolbeinn Gunnarsson (2016-17, 2017-18), Adam Neelly (2016-17, 2017-18), Olushola Olojo (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18), Aaron Persinger (2015-16, 2017-18), Ashley Pryke (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18), Martina Rodriguez Sala (2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18), Rafael Vallery (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18), Luke Vaughn (2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18) and Jordan Wesner (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18).
Rodriguez Sala also was a UTSFCCCA All-Academic selection in women's cross country for the 2016 fall season.
Fourteen of the 17 Tigers on the USTFCCCA All-Academic list competed in the 2018 NCAA East Preliminaries (regional postseason).
Six of Memphis' honorees set school records in 2017-18 (indoor/outdoor). They are: Saida Burns-Moore in the women's high jump (outdoor), Cera Chavez in the women's 60 and 200 meters (indoor), Kolbeinn Gunnarsson in the men's 4x100 relay (outdoor), DeeNia McMiller in the women's weight throw (indoor), Martina Rodriguez Sala in the women's 1500 and 5000 meters (outdoor) and Luke Vaughn in the men's shot put (indoor/outdoor) and discus (outdoor).
Ashley Pryke (women's javelin), Martina Rodriguez Sala (women's 1500 meters) and Luke Vaughn (men's discus/shot put) won American Athletic Conference titles in their respective events.
Michael Criticos, Ashley Pryke, Martina Rodriguez Sala, Rafael Vallery and Luke Vaughn all earned USTFCCCA All-America and All-Academic honors in 2017-18. Criticos, Pryke and Vaughn received USTFCCCA All-America first team recognition, and Rodriguez Sala and Vallery earned All-America second team accolades.
In addition to earning USTFCCCA All-Academic honors, Rafael Vallery was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America second team, and Olushola Olojo and Ashley Pryke were selected to the organization's Academic All-America third team. Those three and Aaron Persinger were CoSIDA Academic All-District III honorees.