Men's and Women's Track and Field Earn All-Academic Honors

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's and women's track and field teams, along with Josh Natalie (Erie, PA/Strong Vincent) and Luke Patten (West Middlesex, PA/West Middlesex) were named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic team.

Patten earned his first trip to the NCAA Championships after posting the 12th-best pole vault height in Division III at 16' 3.5" and finished 17th at the championships. Natalie was a part of the distance medley relay team ranked 29th in the country.

To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track & Field Team, the student athlete must have compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.3 and have met at least one of the following athletic standards:

• Competed in an NCAA Indoor or Outdoor Championship

• Finished the regular season ranked in the national top 35 in an individual event or ranked in the national top 25 (collective listing) in a relay event on the official NCAA POP list provided by TFRRS.org.

Both the men's and women's teams were awarded with the All-Academic honor after their remarkable efforts in the classroom and in competition. The men posted a cumulative GPA of 3.16, while the women finished the year with a cumulative GPA of 3.26.

In order to be in the running for Scholar Team of the Year, a team must finish highly at the respective national championship and have at least a 3.10 cumulative team GPA. All told, there were 112 men's teams and 175 women's teams honored by the USTFCCCA.