ABILENE -- Abilene Christian cross country members
Briahna Gerlach,
Carnley Graham and
Kevin Kipkosgei Thursday were announced as First Team Southland Conference All-Academic selections in recognition of their classroom excellence and success at last month's Southland Conference Championships.
Second team honors went to Wildcat junior
Conner Miller (financial management) and sophomore
Colton Gates (engineering).
All Southland yearly award winners are presented by Ready Nutrition.
Kipkosgei, a sophomore nursing major with a 4.0 GPA and native of Eldoret, Kenya, was the Southland's 8K runner up to Lamar's Jordan Rowe (24:01.7), finishing the course in 24:08.6. He then placed 10th of 160 runners in the NCAA South Central Region 10K with a time of 30:28.8 in becoming the program's first all-region honoree since Amos Sang won the 2010 regional title (30:42.96).
Gerlach, a junior nursing major and native of Gakona, Alaska, led the Wildcats at conference with her fourth place 6K time of 21:07.0 to earn her first all-Southland Conference First Team honor. Senior
Carnley Graham, a nursing major from Prosper, Texas, placed sixth for the third consecutive fall to make the league's second team as she finished with a mark of 21:36.6.
Graham now owns the distinction of making the Southland Conference All-Academic team four consecutive years, while Gates, Gerlach, Kipkosgei and Miller all are first time honorees. The men's three selections are a program high. ACU women's squad received four awardees in 2014, 2015 and 2017.
Gerlach went on to place 19th in her regional 6K race with a mark of 21:37.2, becoming the fourth Wildcat from the women's program to earn all-region honors since the trio of Diana Garcia Munoz and Michaela and Alexandria Hackett all finished among the top-25 at the 2017 race in College Station.
Student-Athlete of the Year honors went to Rowe and Stephen F. Austin's Kelsey Ramirez.
Southland Conference All-Academic Teams are voted upon by a head coach, sports information director and academic/compliance staff member from each school.
Student-Athletes of the Year are voted upon by an awards committee which consists of one administrator from each member school. Voting for one's own athletes is not permitted.
To be eligible for all-academic distinction, an athlete must hold a minimum 3.00 cumulative grade point average through the semester prior to the sport's championship, completed at least one full academic year at the nominating school prior to the current season, and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competitions during the most recently completed season.
Student-Athlete of the Year nominees must hold at least a 3.20 GPA and have completed at least two years of athletic competition at the nominating institution.
First Team All-Conference athletes (top five finishers at the Southland Cross Country Championships) who meet all-academic nomination criteria are automatically named First Team All-Academic.
