Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

All-Academic Teams
All-Academic Individuals

July 29, 2017 - The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has recognized the North Central College women's track & field team for its success in both athletics and academics, awarding the Cardinals the Team Academic Award for the 11th consecutive season. Seven Cardinals received individual All-Academic accolades as well.

The Cardinals earn the honor after posting a team grade-point average of 3.21 for the academic year. North Central is one of seven College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) institutions to be honored, joining Augustana College, Carroll University, Carthage College, Illinois Wesleyan University, Millikin University and Wheaton College.

To be eligible for the award, institutions must be USTFCCCA members and compile a team GPA of 3.10 or better. A total of 183 NCAA Division III women's programs made the list this season.

The Cardinals' seven individual honorees include seniors Tori Capozziello, Kayla Etherton, Sade Gant, Helen Majer and Courtney Meyer and sophomores Hailey Dammeier and Naomi Yamane. To qualify for the individual honor, athletes must have maintained at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA and either competed in a national championship event or been ranked in the top 35 in an individual event or in the top 25 in a relay event in the final indoor or outdoor rankings. In all, 608 student-athletes from 142 institutions made the list, including 23 from the CCIW.

Capozziello, who recently graduated with a degree in organizational communication, won indoor CCIW Championships this season in the mile run and distance medley relay and is the North Central indoor record holder at 600 meters. Etherton, a recent graduate in interactive media studies, broke her own North Cenral indoor record in the 20-pound weight throw and qualified for the Division III indoor national championships for the first time before making her second outdoor national appearance in the hammer throw. She has won the last two CCIW outdoor titles in the hammer.

Gant recently graduated with a degree in physical education and placed third in the 60-meter dash at the CCIW Indoor Championships. Majer, a graduate in biology, won the CCIW indoor title at 3,000 meters this winter, while Meyer, a graduate with a degree in psychology, finished third in the CCIW indoors and fifth outdoors in the pole vault. Dammeier, an accounting major, finished second in the pentathlon at the CCIW Indoor Championships and fourth in the heptathlon at the CCIW outdoor meet, and Yamane, an exercise science major, finished fourth in the hammer and seventh in the discus throw at the CCIW Outdoor Championships.

A total of 33 student-athletes from CCIW institutions received All-Academic recognition.