Track & Field Garners 4 Academic All-Americans
Men's/Women's NCAA Division I Track & Field/Cross Country Release
AUSTIN, Texas - The College Sport Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced their selections for the 2017-18 Google Cloud Academic All-America® NCAA Division I Track & Field/Cross Country Teams. The Mid-American Conference garnered reciginition through four student-athletes; Akron's Matt Ludwig (second team), Eastern Michigan's Janina Pollatz (second team) and Jordann McDermitt (third team), and Kent State's Sam Tollerud (second team).
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Write-ups courtesy of MAC Sport Information Departments
Matt Ludwig, who maintains a 3.85 GPA in biomedical engineering, becomes the first Akron men's track and field student-athlete to earn Academic All-America accolades as recognized by CoSIDA since the program's inception and in the process garnered the 45th Academic All-America citation across all Zips' sports since 1972. Ludwig captured first-team All-America honors for a fourth time in his Akron career this spring placing second in the pole vault at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (June 6) with a mark of 18-2.50 (5.55m).
This is
Janina Pollatz's first time earning Academic All-American honors, although she has been an excellent student and one of EMU's best pole vaulters since first stepping foot in Ypsilanti. The Grand Rapids native had yet another strong campaign in her last season donning the Green and White, marking the program's third-best outdoor vault in history with a height of 4.17m. Additionally, she reached that milestone at the prestigious Jesse Owens Track Classic, which earned her a first-place finish and qualified her to the NCAA East Preliminaries for the second time in her career. The electronic media major serves as just one of 28 women All-Americans who boast a 4.0 or better.
Jordann McDermitt reeled in the honors for the second time in her career, having been named a Second Team Academic All-American in 2017. The senior capped off her incredible time here at EMU with more outstanding showings in cross country, indoor, and outdoor track and field. To start, she placed fourth at the MAC Cross Country Championships to earn First Team All-MAC honors and assist the team to its third straight conference title. She then went on to become an all-region honoree after finishing fifth, before becoming the first Eagle to cross the finish line at the NCAA Championships, placing 78th on the big stage. During the indoor season, McDermitt shined in the 5000m, being placed on the All-MAC Second Team after finishing second with a time of 16:35.54. Finally, the Davison, Mich. native placed fourth in the 5000m at the MAC Outdoor Championships with an NCAA Preliminary qualifying time of 16:15.52. McDermitt saw her unbelievable career come to a close at the preliminaries, placing 15th and just missing the cut to the final round of competition. The exercise science major had a cumulative GPA of 3.97, and is just one of 10 Academic All-American women selections this year to have earned the honor more than once.
An exercise science major who graduated with a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average,
Sam Tollerud won her second consecutive Mid-American Conference indoor pole vault title in February and finished runner-up at the outdoor conference meet for the second year in a row. She ranked 27th nationally (13'-9") during the indoor season and 32nd (13'-8.5") during the outdoor season. Tollerud earned four individual titles throughout her senior year and placed in the top-3 in 12 of 17 meets. The top pole vaulter in Kent State history, Tollerud owns the indoor (13'-9.25") and outdoor (13'-10") program records. She qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary Championships in each of her four seasons and concluded her career as a four-time All-MAC honoree.
