Trio of Cross Country,Track & Field Student-Athletes Earn CoSIDA Academic All-America Honors
AUSTIN, Texas – Announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on June 24, a trio of BIG EAST student-athletes were voted to the Academic All-America® Division I Track & Field/Cross Country teams. Georgetown senior Katrina Coogan was named to the AA Second Team; while Providence senior Sarah Collins and Villanova senior Rob Denault earned Third Team honors.
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Coogan was an Academic All-America Third Team honoree in 2015. This year she boasted a 3.74 GPA in human sciences. An 11-time All-American at Georgetown, Coogan had a stellar indoor track & field season that saw her anchor the NCAA champion distance medley relay (DMR) squad and turn in a third-place performance in the women’s 3,000-meter run at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, held in Birmingham, Ala. Coogan continued her impressive senior campaign during the outdoor season, where she again anchored a championship DMR team – this one at the 2016 Penn Relays Carnival. Coogan and the relay team brought home one of two titles for the Hoyas at the Penn Relays. She picked up a pair of event crowns at the 2016 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships, winning the 1,500-meter run handily and successfully defending the 4x800-meter title as she ran the third leg of the relay. She became just the second Hoya in program history to win back-to-back conference 1,500-meter crowns. An NCAA finalist, she finished 20th in the 5,000-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, to pick up the 11th All-America distinction of her career. She also earned the 2015-16 BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sports Excellence Award for indoor track & field.
Collins, a biology major, earned a cumulative grade-point average of 3.73 and is a four-time USTFCCCA All-Academic Team and BIG EAST All-Academic Team selection. Collins has claimed All-America, All-Northeast Region and All-BIG EAST honors in 2012, 2013 and 2015. She has helped guide Providence to three top-five finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, including the NCAA Team title in 2013. The Friars finished as runner-up at the NCAAs in 2012 and fourth in 2015. She also led the Friars to two BIG EAST Cross Country Championships (2013, 2015), and captured the BIG EAST individual title in 2015. Collins is scheduled to return to Providence College as a graduate student, with one year of eligibility remaining. She was recently announced as a 2015-16 BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sports Excellence Award honoree for cross country.
A distance runner, Denault finished his degree with a 3.56 GPA as a double major in marketing and management information systems. He is a seven-time selection to the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) All-Academic Teams in cross country and track & field and a four-time selection to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team. With his collegiate career in the books, Denault will leave Villanova as a five-time All-American, a BIG EAST individual champion and a 14-time All-BIG EAST performer. He is one of 38 sub-four minute milers in program history, and he ran a sub-four mile or the metric equivalent in the 1500 meters a total of seven times during the collegiate season. He currently owns the ninth-fastest indoor mile in school history (3:58.25) and ranks eighth on the Wildcats all-time indoor performance list in the Mile. Denault also holds an indoor school record as part of a distance medley relay squad which record a time of 9:27.04 on Feb. 13, 2015. During the 2015-16 indoor season, Denault set a personal best time of 7:59.40 in the 3000 meters and went on to earn All-BIG EAST honors with a runner-up finish in the event at the BIG EAST Championships. He anchored the distance medley relay to a second place finish at the conference meet and led off the relay at the NCAA Championships to help Villanova earn first team All-America honors with a sixth place finish. It marked the first time in his career that he was a first team All-American.
Of the 45 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country team members, 26 have grade point averages of 3.90 or higher, including nine who have a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. The CoSIDA Academic All-America®
first team combined for a 3.845 GPA. Of the 45 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I Women’s Track Field/Cross Country team members, 26 have grade-point averages of 3.90 or higher including 14 who have a perfect 4.0 GPA The CoSIDA Academic All America® first team combined for a 3.852 GPA.