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

NEW ORLEANS – Emily Oren of Hillsdale, Lauren Martin of Adams State, Natalie O’Keefe of Southwest Baptist and Allie Updike of Azusa Pacific have been named the female Scholar Athletes of the Year in NCAA Division II for the 2015-16 track & field season by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), the association announced Thursday.

Considering both their accomplishments in the classroom and in competition during the recently completed academic year, these four women were the most exceptional among a class of 483 who earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors. The full breakdown of All-Academic selections can be found below.

PDF Release

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.

Oren, a senior economics major with a 3.407 cumulative GPA, claimed the Indoor Track award. The Holland, Michigan, native won a pair of national titles at the NCAA Indoor Championships as she won the mile and 3000-meter titles.

Martin, a graduate student with a 3.81 GPA, was named the Outdoor Track Scholar Athlete of the Year. Competing for the her hometown Grizzlies from Alamosa, Colorado, Martin swept the 5000- and 10,000-meter national titles at the outdoor championships. She is the second woman from her school to win the award.

O’Keefe, a junior art major with a cumulative 4.00 GPA, earned the Indoor Field distinction, becoming the first woman in her program’s history to earn the award. Hailing from Granite City, Illinois, O’Keefe claimed the NCAA Indoor high jump title to become the first female NCAA champion in school history. She also plays basketball for the Bearcats.

Updike, a senior applied exercise science major with a 3.92 GPA, also claimed her program’s first Scholar Athlete of the Year award with the Outdoor Field honor. The Herndon, Virginia, native claimed the NCAA Outdoor title in the javelin with a new NCAA Championships record. During the Championships she tossed four of the six farthest throws in NCAA DII history.

All-Academic Individuals

GVSU Leads the Way with 17 Honorees

Including the Scholar Athletes of the Year, a total of 483 women from 117 institutions earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors for their combined academic and athletic accomplishments.

To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track and Field Team, a 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 the indoor or outdoor seasons.

Grand Valley State led all teams with 17 honorees, ahead of GLIAC rivals Ashland and Hillsdale with 12 each. Five more programs registered 11 honorees apiece, including outdoor national champion Pittsburg State.

Thirty-one different women recorded a cumulative GPA of 4.0, including 12 seniors.

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