Kalamazoo College women's cross country and track & field placed three student-athletes on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team, announced on Tuesday, June 23. Maya Alkema, Ava King and Allison Mayer each earned the honor.
To earn the distinction of CSC Academic All-District honors, the student-athlete must be at least a sophomore, achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher, and must have a top-50 individual performance at the NCAA regional cross country competition or have a top-50 regional ranking in a single track & field event (indoor or outdoor).
A senior from Kalamazoo, Mich. (Kalamazoo Central), Alkema was ranked in the top 50 in the Great Lakes Region in the 800m (2:23.25, 46th), 3,000m (10:37.02, 44th) and 5,000m (18:26.38, 33rd) during indoor season, and the 3,000m steeplechase (11:53.80, 32nd) in outdoor competition.
King, a sophomore from Traverse City, Mich. (Traverse City West), placed 50th in the Great Lakes Regional in cross country with a time of 23:22.6 in the 6K before shining on the track for the Hornets. She finished third at MIAA Indoor Championships in the mile run (5:05.15), was part of the distance medley relay team that finished third at MIAA indoors and earned an All-Region Honor, then finished second in both the 800m (2:13.11) and 1,500m (4:40.13) at MIAA Outdoor Championships to earn Second Team All-MIAA. She had top-10 marks in the Great Lakes Region for the mile run indoors (4:59.61, 10th) and both the 800m (2:15.28, 8th) and 1,500m (4:30.84, 2nd) on the outdoor track.
A sophomore from Ann Arbor, Mich. (Skyline), Mayer ranked 35th in the Great Lakes Region in the 5,000m during indoor competition with a season-best time of 18:28.14.
This was the first Academic All-Region honor for all three Hornets.
This season, Kalamazoo women's cross country finished fourth in the MIAA, and placed 10th out of 37 teams at the NCAA Regionals, the program's second consecutive top-10 regional finish. The Hornets also competed in track & field for the first time since 1981, earning several podium finishes in MIAA competition and earning the program's first three All-Region honors.
