2021 USTFCCCA All-Academic team and individual awards

EASTON, Mass. (January 29, 2022)-The Stonehill College women's cross country team has been recognized as a 2021 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II All-Academic Team, as announced by the organization. In addition, five Stonehill student-athletes earned individual All-Academic awards from USTFCCCA.

Erhard	Mason
Lombardi	Marshall
Swanson

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 3.26 team GPA, was among the 148 women's teams in NCAA Division II to earn All-Academic Team status. The highest GPA on the women's side was 3.85 by Wayne State College (Nebraska). This is the program's ninth-straight team award.

Individually, seniors Rebecca Erhard and Claire Mason, juniors Victoria Lombardi and Elizabeth Marshall, and sophomore Caitlin Swanson collected All-Academic Awards from the USTFCCCA. To be eligible for this honor, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher and finish in the top-30 percent of their respective regional championship meet, among other qualifiers.

Erhard, who is majoring in accounting, saw five top-30 finishes in the six events she competed in. The Wenham, Mass. native took fourth place in The 39th Annual Shacklette Invitational, third in the Harry F. Anderson Invitational, 30th in the NEICAAA 2021 Cross Country Championships, sixth in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship, and finally fifth at the NCAA Division II East Region Cross Country Championships where she set a personal-best in the 6k race with a time of 21:46.80. This is Erhard's first USTFCCCA honor in her collegiate career. She had also been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll both semesters and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll Fall semester.

Fellow senior, Mason majors in both psychology and business management, and she recorded four top-30 finishes in the five events she raced in. In the 2021 UMass Dartmouth Cross Country Invitational, she set a personal best in the 5k at 18:53.4 for 14th place. She placed 15th at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational, 18th for the NE10 Cross Country Championship, and 29th at the NCAA Division II East Region Cross Country Championships in the other races. Mason is also a first-time USTFCCCA honoree but has previously earned CoSIDA Academic All-District first-team honors and is a two-time NE10 Academic Honor Roll and Dean's List honor roll representative. 

Lombardi is a neuroscience major and had four top-30 finishes in her six races. At The 39th Annual Shacklette Invitational, she finished in seventh place, ninth place at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational where she set a career-best time in the 5k with a time of 18:46.1. At the NE10 Cross Country Championships, she notched a sixth-place finish in the 6k but in the next race (NCAA Division II East Region Cross Country Championships) she recorded a personal-best in the same event (22:01.5) and finished in 10th place. This is Lombardi's first USTFCCCA recognition in her career. 

Marshall, a criminology and psychology major, ended up with four top-30 finishes on the season. In The 39th Annual Shacklette Invitational, Marshall posted a 20th place finish, at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational, she finished in 21st place and set a personal best in the 5k race with a time of 19:13.0. For the NE10 Cross Country Championships, she crossed the finish line at 23rd place, however in the NCAA Division II East Region Cross Country Championships, she set another career-high but this time in the 6k race for a 30th place finish with a time of 22:58.0. Marshall is a first-time USTFCCCA honoree but she had also been named to the Dean's List at Stonehill once. 

Finally, Swanson who is a sophomore is majoring in biology, posted three top-30 finishes out of the four races she competed in this season. At the Shacklette Invitational, Swanson ended up finishing 23rd, for the NE10 Cross Country Championships, she ended up in 26th place, and finally at the NCAA Division II East Region Cross Country Championships, she finished a season-high 19th place. Just like the rest of her fellow Skyhawks, this is Swanson's first USTFCCCA honor. 

Stonehill wrapped up its 2021 season with its 21st appearance at the NCAA Division II Championships, all consecutive, having finished second at both the NCAA Division II East Regional and NE10 Championships over the fall season.

For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Stonehill Skyhawks "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.