Three individuals collect individual All-Academic awards
2019 USTFCCCA All-Academic team and individual awards
The 2018-19 Stonehill women's track & field team won the NE10 Indoor & Outdoor Championships to combine for 12-straight NE10 titles (PHOTO BY: Jim Stankiewicz) |
EASTON, Mass. (August 8, 2019) – The Stonehill College women's track & field team has been recognized as a 2019 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II All-Academic Team, as announced by the organization. In addition, three Stonehill student-athletes earned individual All-Academic awards from the USTFCCCA.
In order to qualify for All-Academic Team awards, a squad must post a cumulative team grade point average of 3.00 or higher. Stonehill, which registered a 3.45 team GPA, was among the 130 women's teams and 79 men's teams in NCAA Division II to earn All-Academic Team status. The highest GPA of 3.63 was represented by Truman State. Stonehill matched averages with Cedarville University, Colorado Mesa University, and the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Individually, senior Krista Fernandes and juniors Anna Lastra and Alyssa Freeman collected All-Academic Awards from USTFCCCA. To be eligible for this honor, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher and have reached a provisional or automatic qualifying standard for the NCAA Championships in either indoor or outdoor seasons.
Fernandes |
Lastra |
Freeman |
Fernandes, Lastra, and Freeman were part of the 4000-meter distance medley relay that bypassed the provisional mark to qualify for the NCAA Division II Indoor Championship this year. This was the sixth-straight year that Stonehill has qualified a women's DMR team to nationals. The quartet clocked in a time of 11:55.84 at the Northeast-10 Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships where they topped all competition winning the title six times in the last 12 years.
Fernandes, who graduated with a degree in Psychology, wrapped up her career this season with multiple awards, including being named Stonehill's Edward E. Martin Senior Scholar Athlete. In late May, she earned her second Google Cloud Academic All-District™ I Women's Cross Country and Track & Field First Team honor and is one of six women Skyhawks to have earned the award twice in the history. This USTFCCCA All-Academic team honor is the third award in her career. In the Conference, Fernandes has earned four NE10 Academic All-Conference accolades and has been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll with Academic Distinction. She was a member of Psi Chi and Lambda Epsilon Sigma Honor Societies, received the Stonehill College Presidential Scholarship, and has been named to both the Dean's List and Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
On the track, Fernandes has climbed the ladder of success throughout her four years and was a three-time qualifier for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships with the 4000-meter distance medley relay team. She has combined for 11 USTFCCCA All-East Region honors, 10 All-Conference accolades, and is a three-time NE10 Champion, including winning the 2019 400-meter run during the indoor season. At New England's, Fernandes is a four-time All-New England honoree, while also assisting the DMR to the 2017 title. This season she was named a captain and currently holds the record for the indoor 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:44.77 from 2017.
Lastra, who is studying health science, finished her junior year with her sixth USTFCCCA All-Academic Team recognition. Similarly to Fernandes, Lastra was also named to the Academic All-District first team, for her first honor. She also received the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award during her sophomore year, while being named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll with Academic Distinction and Athletic Director's Honor Roll multiple times.
This past year, Lastra led the way for the program's 17th NE10 Cross Country Championship as she was Stonehill's fourth-straight individual champion and was named NE10 Athlete of the Year. With the title, Lastra tallied her first cross country All-Conference first team recognition to combine for 12 over her three years with the Purple & White. At the NCAA Division II Cross Country East Regional Championships, the junior was the runner up at the meet for her second cross country All-East Region honor, and she followed that up with her best mark at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships as she finished 64th in her third-straight appearance. The Bridgton, Maine native has also totaled four All-New England honors and 13 NCAA Division II All-East Region team recognitions over the three seasons. During the indoor seasons, she has assisted the 4000-meter distance medley relay team to qualify for NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships three times.
This is Freeman's third USTFCCCA All-Academic team honor, but first award for track & field as she studies Psychology. During her sophomore year, she received the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award and has been named to the NE10 Academic and Athletic Director's Honor Rolls multiple times. Running with the cross country and track & field programs, Freeman has combined for six USTFCCCA All-East Region honors, 10 All-Conference accolades, and two All-New England awards. The junior assisted the 4x800-meter relay team to its seventh NE10 outdoor title in 11 years, as she also earned an All-Conference honor for the 800-meter run finishing third place after making finals. Freeman qualified for her first NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championship this season with the DMR, as she has previously competed in two NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in her career.
Stonehill completed another sweep of the NE10 women's cross country, indoor, and outdoor track & field Championships during the 2018-19 academic year for the fourth time in history. The Skyhawks captured their 17th overall and 10th-consecutive cross country title in November, before claiming their fifth indoor and fourth outdoor track & field titles in program history in February and May, respectively. The women have now won 12-straight NE10 Championships in cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field and over the past 18 Championships, the Stonehill women have won 17 of them.
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