Feb. 26, 2013

NEW ORLEANS – The Northern Illinois cross country team was named an All-Academic team by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), the association announced Tuesday.
 
In order to qualify, a team must have competed and compiled a team score at a 2012 NCAA Regional Championship, along with having a minimum 3.0 grade point average as a team.
 
"At the beginning of the fall we talked about having a team GPA above 3.5,” said NIU head coach Greg Hipp. “I'm proud of the ladies for exceeding that goal. They are certainly an intelligent group, but this is equally the result of their discipline and work ethic in the classroom."
 
Overall, NIU is one of 200 schools named an All-Academic team. In that group, the Huskies’ 3.65 team GPA ranks as the 13th-highest in the nation. Among the teams the Huskies topped on the list were Ohio State, Michigan, Harvard and Yale. NIU’s GPA was also the best in the state of Illinois and second best among the 10 Mid-American Conference schools on the list.
 
The Huskies feature six student-athletes – Katie Janssen, Courtney Oldenburg, Ali Olson, Leah Raffety, Hannah Savage and Juliane Totzke – with GPAs of 3.5 or higher.