Freeland, Mich. -- Five MIAA student-athletes have been named to the 2016 Academic All-America® Division III Track & Field/Cross Country Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
On the men's side, Hope senior Boone Marois has been named to the first team and Trine senior Sam Gilly to the second team.
On the women's side, Alma junior Kaitlyn Arnold has been named to the first team while Calvin junior Lauren Strohbehn and Olivet junior Alyssa Schultz have been named to the second team.
Boone Marois is an Academic All-American® for the first time in his career. Marois is from Traverse City and is a graduate of Traverse City Central High School. He graduated from Hope last month and will begin medical school at the University of Michigan on August 17. He majored in biochemistry and molecular biology at Hope.
Marois helped the Flying Dutchmen's 4x100-meter relay earn All-America honors with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Hope's 4x100 relay set school and MIAA records this season.
Marois earned All-MIAA outdoor track & field honors for the second time in his career this spring after becoming MIAA champion in the 200 meters as well as the 4x100 relay he anchored. He was league champion in the 200 meters as a freshman as well.
Marois was named the MIAA's Albert L. Deal Male Scholar Award winner and Hope's Otto van der Velde Award winner given to the college's top male student-athlete.
A native of St. Joseph, Ill., Sam Gilly earned the first Academic All-American® recognition of his career as he was named the Second Team. The senior earned All-America honors in the weight throw during the indoor season, placing eighth at the national meet. Gilly graduated from Trine in May with a 3.91 GPA in sport management. Gilly is from St. Joseph, Illinois. He is a graduate of St. Joseph Ogden High School.
Gilly’s academic honors also included three recognitions on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll. He was one of four Trine students to score in the 90th percentile or higher on the Major Field Test, a national assessment for students in the business field. Gilly also appeared on Trine University’s president’s list numerous times.
In addition to All-America honors, Gilly was also named the MIAAs Most Valuable Field Athlete during the indoor season. Gilly’s indoor campaign also included USTFCCCA All-Region honors and recognition as a MIAA Field Athlete of the Week. The outdoor season saw Gilly earn USTFCCCA All-Region honors for his performance in the hammer throw. He was named to the All-MIAA team for his efforts at Field Day, where he won the conference’s hammer throw title.
Kaitlyn Arnold is a native of Jackson, Michigan. She is a graduate of Jackson Northwest High School.
Arnold, a Third-Team selection a year ago, was one of 15 members named to the First Team and one of six student-athletes to carry a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. Arnold is majoring in integrative physiology and health science at Alma College and recently completed her junior year with the Scots. This is the second major academic award for Arnold, who was named the NCAA Elite 90 Award winner at the 2016 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The Elite 90 Award is given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at a NCAA Championship event.
Arnold qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships in the 5,000-meter run where she finished 12th. She was also crowned MIAA champion in the 1,500-meter run and earned First Team All-MIAA honors during the outdoor season, and was named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Great Lakes Region Team.
During the indoor campaign, Arnold finished second at the MIAA Championships in the 3,000-meter run and was a part of a distance medley relay team that finished second.
Arnold was the Scots' lead runner during the cross country season and placed fifth at the MIAA Championships to earn All-MIAA First Team honors. She received all-region recognition after placing 32nd at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional.
Strohbehn hails from Stillwater, Minnesota. She is a graduate of St. Croix Preparatory High School. Strohbehn has been a standout for the Calvin cross country and track and field teams.
During the cross country season this fall, Strohbehn was the MIAA's Most Valuable Runner and the Great Lakes Regional Athlete of the Year after taking first at the MIAA Championships and at the Great Lakes Regionals. She also took first place at the Calvin Knight Invite in mid-September and was subsequently named the Division III National Runner of the Week by the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association.
At the NCAA III Championships, she just missed NCAA III All-America honors, placing 40th individually.
This past May she powered her way into the NCAA III All-America circle, placing third in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA III Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Waverly, Iowa.
Earlier this spring, Strohbehn was an All-MIAA track and field honoree after winning the 5,000 meters at the MIAA Championships. She was later named to the USTFCCCA Division III Great Lakes All-Region Outdoor Track and Field Team. During the winter, she was the MIAA's Indoor Track and Field Champion in the 5,000 meters and was named to the All-MIAA Indoor Track and Field squad.
Academically, Strohbehn is majoring in biology with a minor in kinesiology and is a prestigious Goldwater Research Scholar at Calvin.
Schultz hails from Traverse City and is a graduate of Traverse City Central High School.
As a member of the Comet cross country team during the fall 2015 season, Schultz was selected to the second-team All-MIAA and USTFCCCA All-Academic teams. She ran a season-best time of 23:10.4 for a 6K race. In track and field, Schultz posted career-best outdoor times of 2:35.91 in the 800-meter run; 5:04.27 in the 1,500-meter run; 18:14.77 in the 5,000-meter run; and 38:44.37 in the 10,000-meter run. She finished in fifth-place in the 5K and 10K at the 2016 MIAA Field Day. Schultz holds the school record times in three indoor events (800, mile, 3K) and one outdoor event (5K).
An actuarial science major, Schultz has a 3.9907 grade point average at the conclusion of the 2016 spring semester. She has been on the Dean's List or President's List every semester during her time at Olivet. Schultz is also a President's Leadership Institute fellow.
Schultz is the third Olivet student-athlete to earn All-America® honors during the 2015-16 academic year, and earns the 28th Academic All-America® award in Olivet history. In addition, she is the third women's track/cross country runner in school history to earn the honor. The other two were Stephanie Green (third-team in 2006) and Jenna Mayle (second-team in 2014).
The CoSIDA Academic All-America Division III Track & Field/Cross Country team is selected from the members of the all-district teams, which are voted on by CoSIDA members. To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must carry at least a 3.5 GPA and participate in at least 50 percent of the team's competitions.
The CoSIDA Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2015-16 D-III Academic All-America® teams program.
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. 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.
Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
