Men’s and women’s cross country teams selected to USTFCCCA All-Academic Team, Davis earns All-Academic honors

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Olivet College men's and women's cross country teams have landed a spot on the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Team for the 2022 fall semester. Junior Chris Davis has been named a USTFCCCA All-Academic athlete.

To be eligible for the team honor, it must have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.1 or higher on a 4.0 scale, including the most recently completed grading period. Under the tutelage of head coach Karen Lutzke, the Olivet women have a 3.73 cumulative GPA, and the Comet men have a 3.71 cumulative GPA.

The Olivet women have now earned this honor for 11 of the last 12 years, and the men have been on the list for 10 of the last 12 years. The men's 3.71 GPA is the highest in school history. The previous high was 3.62 in 2014. The women's 3.73 GPA matches the 2020 squad for the second-best in school history.

In 2022, the USTFCCCA honored 189 men's teams and 212 women's teams in NCAA Division III. Eight of nine Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) women's programs, and all eight MIAA men's teams received recognition.

To be eligible for the All-Academic status, a student-athlete must have a 3.30 or higher cumulative GPA and finish in the top 25 percent of his/her respective NCAA regional championship race. An exercise science major, Davis placed 48th of 271 runners at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. He finished in a school-record time of 25:19.4. Davis joins Todd Meredith in 1997 and Bruce Baker in 2016 as the only three student-athletes in school history to earn this honor.