USTFCCCA All-Americans Announced for 2015 NCAA DIII Indoor Track & Field

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced the 2015 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field All-Americans on Tuesday.

In order to be honored as an All-American, an athlete had to finish in the top eight in an event at the NCAA Championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. For an athlete to earn All-America honors, their school must be a member of the USTFCCCA.

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men and UW-La Crosse women each won their programs’ first-ever team national titles, with twelve and thirteen All-Americans, respectively. The Blugold men had two double All-Americans: Josh Thorson, who anchored the winning distance medley relay and took third at 3000 meters, and Cody Prince, who was sixth in the 400 and eighth in the triple jump.

Four Eagle women were double AAs–triple/long jumper Bailey Alston (fifth and seventh in those two jumps), triple jump and 4×400 champ Bria Halama, 3000/5000 fifth placer Laura Mead, and 4×400 champ champ/hurdles bronze medallist Claire Gordee.

Eau Claire’s men and La Crosse’s women were actually outpaced in the All-American department by Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) rivals. UW-Oshkosh led DIII in women’s All-Americans with fifteen, ahead of La Crosse with thirteen, Washington (Mo.) with ten, Illinois Wesleyan with nine, MIT with eight, Eau Claire and Middlebury with seven, St. Thomas (Minn.) and Central (Iowa) with six, and UW-Whitewater, UW-Stout, Chicago, and Johns Hopkins with five.

UW-La Crosse won the most men’s All-American honors with sixteen, four more than Eau Claire and Mount Union won. Behind those three schools in men’s honors were Oshkosh with ten, Whitewater with nine, North Central (Ill.) and Bates with eight, Monmouth (Ill.) and Southern Maine with six, and St. Norbert, UW-Stevens Point, Tufts, and Augustana (Ill.) with five each.

With those lists in mind, it should be surprise to read that the WIAC had the most All-Americans out of any conference for either gender. In fact, for both men and women, the WIAC had more All-Americans than the next three conferences combined.

The Wisconsin schools’ forty-eight honorees were the most for women. Behind them were the NESCAC’s seventeen, the UAA’s fifteen, and the CCIW’s fourteen. Men’s conference numbers were pretty similar: WIAC fifty-seven, NESCAC twenty-one, CCIW fourteen, Midwest Conference thirteen.

Four women won three All-American certificates and medals last weekend. Distance runner Maryann Gong of MIT won the 3k and scored in the mile and DMR, Lexie Sondgeroth of Whitewater won the long jump and was in the top eight in the 400 and 200, Kylee Verhasselt of Oshkosh was a triple AA in the DMR, 4×4, and 800, and Abigail Davis of Central did the same in the 60, 200, and 4×4. Only one man matched that feat: Ethan Reschke of Monmouth was All-American in the 200, 400, and 4×4.

Twenty-five women and twenty-three men were double All-Americans. The full list of honorees is below.