Albion's Cassie Vince and Calvin's Katie Diekema capped their collegiate careers in grand style June 25 with their selection to the 2019 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division III Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Vince and Diekema were both named Second-Team Academic All-Americans® by CoSIDA. The national honor for both excellence in competition and in the classroom is one of many All-America accolades for both Vince and Diekema, two of the top distance runners in both the MIAA and on the national stage.
Vince, an exercise science major who graduated Summa Cum Laude in May, raced to a 10th place finish in the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship in November and fifth place in the 5,000 meters during the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in March. Along the way, Vince was named the MIAA Most Valuable Runner in cross country and the Great Lakes Region Track Athletic of the Year for the indoor season by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Diekema, fresh off an All-America performance in the 1,500m run at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships last week, owns a 3.88 grade-point average in engineering. Diekema's third-place finish in the 1,500m run was the third top-five finish for the Kenmore, Washington native at an NCAA Championship and fourth All-America performance (2018 NCAA Outdoor, 4th, 1,500m run; 2019 NCAA Indoor, 3rd, 1-Mile run; 2018 NCAA Cross Country, 16th).
The 2019 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Teams, selected by CoSIDA, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The Google Cloud Academic All-America® program separately recognizes outstanding student-athletes in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
The 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 2018-19 Division III Academic All-America® teams program.
MIAA Student-Athletes Honored by CoSIDA
Albion: Cassie Vince - Story link
Calvin: Katie Diekema - Story link
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