DII Men’s Track & Field Scholar Athletes of the Year & All-Academic Individuals Announced

NEW ORLEANS – Tyler Pence of Southern Indiana, Tabor Stevens of Adams State, and the Texas A&M-Kingsville duo of Lutalo Boyce & Javan Gray have been named the men’s Scholar Athletes of the Year in NCAA Division II for the 2014-15 track & field season by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), the association announced Friday.

Taking into account both their accomplishments in the classroom and in competition during the recently completed academic year, these five men were the most exceptional among a group of 239 men who earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors. The full breakdown of All-Academic selections can be found below.

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Scholar Athletes of the Year were selected as the highest-finishing performers at the NCAA Indoor & Outdoor Championships who also achieved USTFCCCA All-Academic Individual status. Those who earned multiple individual championship titles ranked higher in the tie-breaking process, and cumulative GPA is weighed as the final tiebreaker to establish a winner.

Separate awards are given to track athletes and field athletes for the indoor and outdoor seasons, resulting in four categories.

Pence, a junior elementary education major with a 3.473 cumulative GPA, was named the indoor track honoree, marking his first Scholar Athlete award. The native of Springfield, Illinois, claimed the 5000 meters national title at the NCAA Indoor Championships, running an indoor career-best 14:13.33.

Southern Indiana has now been represented by a track Scholar Athlete for two consecutive seasons, as Pence joined 2014 outdoor track Scholar Athlete Johnnie Guy as an award winner.

Stevens, a senior earth science/physical geography major with a 3.27 cumulative GPA, is a track Scholar Athlete for the second time in his career, having earned the honor indoors in 2013. He’s also a two-time winner of the award in cross country. During this 2015 outdoor season, he broke the NCAA DII steeplechase record with a time of 8:26.81 before going on to win NCAA DII titles both in the steeplechase and at 5000 meters.

His award is the ninth men’s track & field Scholar Athlete honor for Adams State.

Boyce, a sophomore kinesiology major with a 3.30 cumulative GPA during his time at Texas A&M-Kingsville, was named the indoor field honoree, marking his first career Scholar Athlete award. The native of Westbury, New York, claimed the indoor national title in the long jump with a leap of 25-7¼ (7.80m) and the competition’s three farthest jumps.

Gray, a senior management major with a 3.79 cumulative GPA, was named the outdoor field honoree during his time at TAMU-Kingsville, marking his first career Scholar Athlete award. The native of Springfield, Oregon, won the NCAA title in the javelin with a career-best heave of 233-7 (71.21m) on his final throw.

Boyce and Gray are the first two men from Texas A&M-Kingsville to earn Scholar Athlete of the Year honors.

All-Academic Individuals

GVSU Tops the Team List; MIAA Leads All Conferences

Including the Scholar Athletes of the Year, a total of 239 men from 76 institutions earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors for their combined academic and athletic accomplishments.

To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track and Field Team, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and have reached a provisional or automatic qualifying standard for the NCAA Championships in either indoor or outdoor seasons.

Grand Valley State led all teams with 13 honorees, topping Colorado Mines by two. Rounding out the top five was a three-way tie at eight honorees apiece between Shippensburg, Alaska Anchorage and Central Missouri.

On the conference level, it was the MIAA that cmae out on top with 43 honorees between its member institutions. Next up were the GLIAC with 30 and the RMAC with 29.

Eight different men recorded a cumulative GPA of 4.0.

The full list of All-Academic selections is provided below, arranged alphabetically by team name.

2015 USTFCCCA All-Academic Individuals
NCAA Division II Men’s Track & Field