Women's Academic Athlete of the Year McGlynn leads 11 RMAC picks for Grizzlies

Three ASC athletes named first team, eight listed on honor roll

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – For the fourth time in her illustrious Adams State career, junior Kristen McGlynn has been named the RMAC Women’s Academic Athlete of the Year for the 2012 outdoor track & field season, as she led a group of three first team picks and 11 overall Academic All-RMAC selections, it was announced Wednesday.

Alongside league 1500 meter champ and 5,000 meter runner-up McGlynn on the RMAC All-Academic First Team were senior Lindsey Grasmick (Fowler, Colo.), this spring’s RMAC 400 meter hurdles titlist, and sophomore Alicia Nelson (Craig, Colo.), runner-up at 1500 meters. Grasmick and Nelson both ran on the women’s third place 4x400 meter relay squad.

Representing the Grizzlies on the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll were senior Addison LeMaster (Tulia, Texas), sophomores Katie Kruger (Alamosa, Colo.) and Krystal Thomas (Aurora, Colo.), and redshirt-freshmen Lindsay Jantzi (Phoenix, Ariz.), Sarah Lange (Brattleboro, Vt.), Lauren Martin (Alamosa, Colo.), Angelica Payton (San Diego, Calif.) and Tayler Warren (Evergreen, Colo.).

Sports Information Directors from RMAC schools that compete in outdoor track & field voted on first team, second team and honor roll all-academic performers, selecting student-athletes that have a grade points average (GPA) of 3.30 or better, are a starter or reserve, and have completed two consecutive semesters or three quarters at their current institution prior to the start of outdoor track & field season.

McGlynn, who was named as the RMAC Women’s Academic Athlete of the Year for all three seasons of the 2010-11 school year, earns her first of the 2011-12 seasons. A first team pick indoors this March, McGlynn was also tabbed for Capital One First Team Academic All-American honors last year and was the recipient of the NCAA Elite 88 Award at last year’s DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships, given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA in each of the NCAA’s national tournaments.

Holder of a 4.00 GPA, McGlynn has been equally impressive on the track as in the classroom, and owns eight U.S. Track & Field and Coaches’ Association (USTCCCA) All-American accolades to prove it. At the 2012 indoor national meet in March, McGlynn  ran to fifth place in the 5,000 meter run and was a member of the Grizzlies’ runner-up distance medley relay squad. Outdoor she will enter next weekend’s NCAA DII Outdoor Championships ranked fourth nationally in each the 1500 meter run, 5,000 meter run and 10,000 meter run (she will run the 5,000 and 10,000 at the national meet), and was tabbed a USTFCCCA All-Central Region performer in all three as well. In helping to lead the ASC women to ninth straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) outdoor title last week, McGlynn claimed the league crown in the 1500 and took runner-up honors in the 5,000.

Grasmick, who will be heading to the 2012 NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Pueblo, Colo. next week to run the 400 meter hurdles, was a First Team Academic All-RMAC pick for indoor track & field this season as well. An HPPE major, Grasmick holds a 3.60 GPA. An indoor all-American in the DMR and 4x400 meter relay, Grasmick was the RMAC champion this spring in the 400 meter hurdles and will enter the DII Champs ranked 14th.

After a second team selection indoors, Nelson moves up to First Team Academic All-RMAC after taking honors as the RMAC 1500 meter runner-up, and helping the Grizzly 4x400 meter relay team to a third place finish. Nelson, the 2010 NCAA DII individual champ in the 3,000 meter steeplechase as a freshman, returned to the track this spring after missing last year due to injury and has looked even sharper. In April, Nelson broke her own Adams State record in the event with a time of 10 minutes, 10.89 seconds. She’ll head to the NCAA Outdoor Championships ranked second in the nation, and will run in a women’s steeplechase race featuring two of the three fastest times in DII history for the event.

As an art major with an emphasis in painting, Nelson maintains a 3.77 GPA . She has also previously been named to the RMAC’s All-Academic teams in for cross country in 2010 (1st team) and 2011 (2nd team).
LeMaster is on the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll for the second straight season after having been tabbed a first team pick for all three seasons of 2010-11. A scorer for the Grizzlies in the 5,000 meter run at the last week’s RMAC Championships where she placed eighth. LeMaster has a 3.83 GPA at Adams State as a nursing major.

History buff Kruger lays claim to a 3.40 GPA, and is now a 2-time RMAC outdoor shot put champion after a successful title defense last week. Kruger was also an indoor honor roll academic selection this winter, and recently earned her fourth USTFCCCA All-Central Region honors in the shot put. Kruger will compete in the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships for the second year in a row next week at the ThunderBowl.

Thomas is now a 2-time RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll selection, achieving the same status indoors in the winter as a 3.62 GPA in psychology. A sprinter, hurdler and jumper, Thomas aided in the Grizzlies RMAC Championship this spring with a seventh place effort of 5.18 meters (17 feet) in the long jump.

Jantzi checks in as an academic selection for her first time at Adams State this spring with a 3.46 GPA. Jantzi competed in the jumps this spring for ASC, placing 12th at the RMAC Championships in the pole vault with a clearance of 2.96 meters (9’8 ½”).

A First Team RMAC All-Academic selection in the fall and winter, Lange is named to the honor roll this spring for the outdoor season. Lange ran to USTFCCCA All-American honors in the fall, and will be heading this spring’s DII championships meet in the 10,000 meter run, where she is ranked eighth in the nation with a time of 34:36.34. Majoring in HPPE at ASC , Lange owns a 3.80 GPA.

Now a 3-time academic honor roll pick, Martin ran a provisional qualifying time in the 5,000 meter run early this season, and concluded her year with Second Team All-RMAC honors and a third place finish in the 5,000 at the RMAC Championships. Martin, a history major, owns a 3.63 GPA.

Payton is also a first time academic honoree by the RMAC, earning the recognition thanks to a GPA of 3.52 as a pre-nursing major at ASC. A member of the Grizzlies’ throwing squad, Payton placed 10th in the shot put last week at the RMAC Championships, one of four ASC throwers to finish among the top 10.

Making her third career Academic All-RMAC Honor Roll of the 2011-12 year, Warren ran in the 800 meters at the outdoor championships meet last week, and earned First Team All-RMAC honors in the winter on the Grizzlies’ DMR team. Warren has accumulated a GPA of 3.56 as an HPPE major with a biology minor in her time at Adams State.

A group of 10 ASC women will be in action in 10 events next weekend as the 2012 season wraps up with the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships from May 24-26 at the ThunderBowl in Pueblo, Colo.

Related Item: 2012 RMAC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Academic Awards