NCAA Champ Nelson Named 2012 Division II Cross Country Women’s Scholar Athlete of the Year

NEW ORLEANS – Alicia Nelson of Adams State was named the USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Women’s Scholar Athlete of the Year for the 2012 cross country season by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). This fall, Nelson won the individual title at the DII NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Scholar Athletes are determined from among those who earned All-Academic status and placed highest individually at the most recent NCAA Championships.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division II
Cross Country Women’s Scholar Athlete of the Year – Alicia Nelson, Adams State

Nelson, a senior fine art/painting major from Craig, Colo., has earned a 3.664 cumulative grade point average through the 2012 fall semester.

Nelson claimed – in record-setting fashion – Adams State’s first individual women’s cross country title since 2002. Her winning 6k time of 20:03.3 was a DII Championships record, which boosted her team to a third-place finish. Sitting in fourth at the halfway point, she won by more than nine seconds over runner-up Susan Tanui of Alaska Anchorage, and by 19 seconds over third-place finisher Katie Spratford of Shippensburg.

En route to her individual NCAA crown she also won both the South Central Regional and RMAC individual titles.

Past Winners

2012: Alicia Nelson, Adams State
2011: Neely Spence, Shippensburg
2010: Neely Spence, Shippensburg
2009: Jessica Pixler, Seattle Pacific
2008: Jessica Pixler, Seattle Pacific
2007: Jessica Pixler, Seattle Pacific
2006: Esther Komen, Western State

345 Earn All-Academic Status

In addition to the Scholar Athlete of the Year, the USTFCCCA also announced those women who earned 2012 Division II All-Academic Cross Country status.

A total of 345 student-athletes represent the 126 institutions that compose the group. (School, conf leaders)

Sixteen of the top 25 finishers from the NCAA Cross Country Championships in the fall earned All-Academic honors. Thirty-eight on the All-Academic list have a cumulative GPA of 4.0 through the 2012 fall semester.

To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track and Field Team in Division II, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or greater through the most-recent semester, completed at least 12 credit hours in the semester of cross country competition, and placed in the top 50 percent at the most recent NCAA National Championships or in the top 30 percent at the NCAA Regional Championships.

USTFCCCA 2012 Division II Women’s Cross Country All-Academic Honorees