NEW ORLEANS, La. --- Moravian College has had six runners named United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic individuals and both the men's and women's cross country squads honored as an All-Academic Team by the USTFCCCA for the 2019 season.
Moravian's honorees were seniors Carly Danoski and Katie Mayer, junior Natalie Novotni and sophomore Emma Marion from the women's team and senior Gavin Kemery and sophomore Dominic DeRafelo from the men's squad. Danoski and Mayer are both studying Environmental Science while Novotni is a nursing major and Marion is studying English with a secondary education certification. Kemery is an English major while DeRafelo is studying mathematics with a secondary education certification.
To earn All-Academic individual honors, student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.30 and have finished in the top 25 percent of the finishers at the NCAA Division III Regionals last November. That group totaled 378 women and 302 men on the NCAA Division III level including the six Greyhounds.
Novotni took first of the 82 runners at the 2019 Landmark Conference Championships to garner the individual title and Runner of the Year honors for the second consecutive year after a time of 23:03.43 on the 6,000-meter course. Danoski earned All-Conference Second Team accolades for a tenth-place finish in 23:50.21 while Marion was 15th in 24:14.28 and Mayer placed 18th in a time of 24:25.29.
For the men, Kemery placed 16th in the Landmark Conference Championships in a time of 27:23.78 while DeRafelo finished 19th in 27:43.74.
"To be able to get this honor individually, you first need to be one of the top seven runners on your team, then you have to place in the top 25% of the entire region, so just the athletic component of this award puts you in some very distinguished company," stated Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "On top of that, you need at least a 3.3 GPA. A number of our athletes that received the individual distinction are in the midst of independent research projects, they're resident advisors in the dorms, work as tutors, or in our writing center. They contribute to our college community above and beyond being excellent student-athletes."
The women's team also maintained a 3.55 cumulative GPA after the fall semester and was one of 212 women's teams to earn All-Academic honors while the men's squad had a 3.22 GPA and was one of 172 teams honored. To be considered an All-Academic Team, programs must have a cumulative GPA of 3.10 or greater and also compiled a team score at the NCAA Regionals.
"It's very reassuring as a coach to see them flourish like this because it shows they're able to successfully multi-task and will be able to apply the same skills, work ethic, and proficiency when they graduate from Moravian," Baumann said. "Our programs are very well represented on these lists, both as teams and with individuals, which shows our program is blessed to have a number of young adults who have not only represented Moravian well, but will go on to thrive as professionals in the coming years."
To view the complete list of the USTFCCCA Academic honorees, visit http://www.ustfccca.org/2020/01/featured/featured-ncaa-division-iii/2019-ncaa-division-iii-cross-country-academic-awards.
