Georgia Men’s Track and Field is the National Scholar Team of the Year
The Georgia Men’s track and field team followed up a historic sixth place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a national academic championship, earning the title of National Scholar Team of the Year for the outdoor season, according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
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At the NCAA Outdoor Championship, the Bulldogs scored 24 points for sixth place. In the classroom, the Georgia men combined for a 3.03 GPA and seven individuals earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Individual honors, including Nick Vena (shot put) and Maicel Uibo (decathlon) who were also First Team All-Americans on the track.
Joining Vena and Uibo with individual academic honors were freshman Alex Larsson (hammer throw), junior Brandon Lord (10,000 meters), junior Charles Grethen (800), junior Caleb Ebbets (pole vault) and junior Drew Branch (400 hurdles).
Bulldog head coach Wayne Norton spoke to Georgiadogs.com.
"Georgia track and field continues to do great things athletically and academically. It seems as if our program accomplishes something every year that has never been done before in our history. Credit for this goes to an outstanding coaching staff that has been able to work together for the common good of the program. The coaches that we have hired over the years have always been team staffers."
Our staff has assembled a wonderful group of student-athletes who are simply getting the job done. Just in the last few years, our students have set records for team GPA and for the number of students achieving GPAs of 3.0 and above. And now, they have topped off the greatest athletic year ever in Georgia track and field with the highest possible academic honor.
The UGA women also posted a team GPA of 3.14 and were one of seven Southeastern Conference women’s teams named a USTFCCCA All-Academic Team.
In addition, five Lady Bulldogs earned All-Academic Individual honors, including First Team All-Americans Lucie Ondraschkova (pentathlon), Morgann Leleux (pole vault) and Carly Hamilton (1500). Freshmen Georgia Stefanidi (pole vault) and Asianna Covington (hammer throw) also garnered individual academic accolades for the Georgia women.
“As the 2014 USTFCCCA Scholar Team of the Year, our men have earned what can be considered the NCAA Track & Field Academic National Championship,” Norton said. “We had five women, seven men and both men’s and women’s teams honored as All-Academic, which shows the wide-spread success we enjoyed academically. I am elated to see what these coaches and athletes have accomplished and as always, it’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog!”