Capital One Academic All-America® Men's and Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Teams release dates: 
College Division Teams: Monday, June 18
Division III Teams: Tuesday, June 19
Division II Teams: Wednesday, June 20
Division I Teams: Thursday, June 21
• 2012 Capital One Academic All-America® Division II Track & Field/Cross CountryTeams - M & W (PDF)
• 2012 Capital One Academic All-America® Division II Track & Field/Cross Country Teams - M & W (doc)
TOWSON, Md. – Seniors Shawn Boss of the University of Central Missouri and Betsy Graney of Grand Valley State University headline the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America NCAA Division II Track & Field/Cross Country Teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The Capital One Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2011-12 D-II Academic All-America teams program.
Boss and Graney have been named as the Capital One Academic All-America® of the Year Division II Track & Field/Cross Country award winners for the men and women respectively.
Boss, a computer information systems major with a perfect 4.00 G.P.A., was the NCAA Elite 89 award winner at NCAA Indoor Track championship as a senior. A native of Oak Grove, Mo., he was the NCAA Division II runner-up in the heptathlon with 5,110 points, earning All-America honors.
He also finished 10th in the nation in the decathlon and set a personal best with 6,722 points at Trinity (Texas). He was also the NCAA Elite 88 Award winner at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track championships and earned All-America honors in the heptathlon in 2010.
The winner of the Ken B. Jones Award as the top student-athlete in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Boss also won the Vernon Kennedy Award for top senior male athlete at UCM.
A physical therapy major with a perfect 4.00 G.P.A., Graney led Grand Valley State to back-to-back
NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field championships. A native of Haper Woods, Mich., she was a four-time All-American as a senior.
During the indoor season, she was part of the Lakers’ distance medley relay team (11:23.35) that won the national championship. She also took finished seventh in the one-mile run (4:54.61). At the NCAA Outdoor Meet, she claimed a national championship in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:23.92). She also earned All-American honors in the 5,000-meter run (17:57.10) with a sixth place finish.
Graney was named as the 2012 USTFCCCA Track Athlete of the Year. She qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the steeplechase after setting an NCAA Division II record with a time of 9:53.85.
Capital One Academic All-America® Division II Men's Track & Field/Cross Country Team
The 15 members of the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America® NCAA Division II men’s cross country/track and field first team have an average 3.76 G.P.A.
Boss was joined on the Capital One Academic All-America® Division II Track & Field/Cross Country Teams men’s first team by Central Missouri teammate Dalton Moberly.
Senior Christopher Copeland of Saint Augustine’s, a two-time selection as third team, made the Capital One Academic All-America® Division II Track & Field/Cross Country Teams men’s first team for the first time ever.
Other members of the Capital One Academic All-America® first team include Scott Anderson of Edinboro, Mike Beeler of Pittsburg State, Cameron Daugherty of Slippery Rock, Russell Drummond of Colorado School of Mines, Alex Harrison of Western Washington, Dan Johnson of East Stroudsburg, Tim Lahmers of California (Pa.), Angus MacDonald of Massachusetts Lowell, Tyler Pennel of Western State, Stephe Schelander of Shippensburg, Evan Thayer of Cedarville and Josh Wilks of Seton Hill.
An education and social studies double major with a 3.93 G.P.A., Moberly was the NCAA Elite 89 Award winner at the 2011 NCAA Division II Cross Country championships. He finished fifth at the South Central Regional and 62nd at the championship meet. It was the second time he earned all-region honors in cross country. He also finished ninth in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships and placed in three events at the MIAA Indoor Championships.
A two-time NCAA Division II indoor high jump champion, Copeland is a sports management major with a 3.64 G.P.A. A senior from Suffolk, Va., Copeland is a six-time All-American in the high jump and earned Capital One Academic All-America® third team honors in 2010 and 2011. He won the 2012 indoor high jump title with a career-best leap of 7-3. He also led Saint Augustine’s to championships at the 2012 CIAA indoor and outdoor meets. Copeland was named as the 2012 Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year.
Anderson, a junior health and physical education major with a 3.78 G.P.A., is Edinboro’s 14th two-time All-American in cross country. The West Falls, N.Y. native led Edinboro to both the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional championships in cross country with a pair of second place finishes. He placed 24th at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship in 2011 after finishing 18th in 2010. The 2010 PSAC Cross Country Runner of the Year, he was a two-time outdoor track national qualifier in the 5,000 meters.
A three-time All-American in the javelin, Beeler is a senior chemistry major with a 3.57 G.P.A. The Lenexa, Kan., native was the NCAA runner-up in the javelin in 2011 and 2012 for Pittsburg State. He won the MIAA javelin title three times and had a career best throw of 235-8 this season. He entered the national meet as the number one seed.
A senior criminology major with a 3.53 G.P.A., Daugherty is a three-time All-American in the pole vault for Slippery Rock. A native of Jacksonville, N.C., he won the 2012 NCAA outdoor title with a school record clearance of 16-10.75. He is a three-time PSAC runner-up in the pole vault and won the title in 2012.
Drummond, a junior distance runner for Colorado School of Mines, is a civil engineering major with a 3.76 G.P.A. A native of Eugene, Ore., he is a five-time track and field All-American and earned All-American honors in cross country in 2011. He finished fourth in the 1500 meters at the 2012 NCAA outdoor championships and led the cross country team to a third-straight top-five finished at NCAA Division II championships.
A graduate student with a 3.84 G.P.A. in kinesiology, Harrison earned All-America honors in the decathlon in 2012 and the javelin in 2010 for Western Washington. A native of Edmonds, Wash., he set the Great Northwest Athletic Conference decathlon record with 6,598 points at the GNAC meet this year .He owns school records in the decathlon (6,772 points) and javelin (214-7). He was named 2011-12 GNAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
A senior sociology major with a 3.82 G.P.A., Johnson earned All-America honors for East Stroudsburg in the decathlon in 2012. A native of York, Pa., he was the PSAC champion in the heptathlon and decathlon as a senior. Named as the PSAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Meet and the Field Athlete of the Year, he set school records with 4,866 points in the heptathlon and 6,925 points in the decathlon.
A senior earth science major with a perfect 4.00 G.P.A., Lahmers was a key performer for the California (Pa.) cross country and track and field teams. A native of Delmont, Pa., he was a strong distance runner for the Vulcans, earning a pair of USTFCCCA All-Academic awards. He also earned the PSAC Champion Scholar Award.
A 10-time All-American, MacDonald is a graduate student at Massachusetts Lowell who is studying mathematics, curriculum and instruction with a 3.47 G.P.A. A native of Methuen, Mass., he was an indoor All-American in the 1500 meters and distance medley relay. He was also an outdoor All-American in the 1500 meters. During his career, he led the River Hawks to a pair of NCAA Division II East Regional cross country championships.
A graduate student at Western State, Pennel has a 3.66 G.P.A. while studying education. A native of Golden, Col., he was the 2012 NCAA Division II 10,000-meter national champion. A five-time national runner-up, he was named as the USTFCCCA National Men’s Track Athlete of the Year. He ran the seventh fastest time in Division II history in the 10,000 meters with a time of 28:23.54 at the Stanford Invitational. He has appeared in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” and is the only Division II track athlete on The Bowerman Award mention lists. He led Western State to the NCAA Division II cross country title by finishing as national runner-up in 2011.
A senior sociology major with a 3.80 G.P.A., Schelander led Shippensburg to its second straight PSAC indoor championship. A native of Shippensburg, Pa., he was named the Most Valuable Athlete of the 2012 PSAC Indoor championships after winning the mile and anchoring the conference champion distance medley relay squad. He earned All-America honors in the distance medley relay and missed All-America honors in cross country and the outdoor 1500 meters by one spot as a senior.
Thayer, a senior biology major with a 3.82 G.P.A., earned NCCAA All-America honors in cross country after finishing third at the NCAA Division II meet for Cedarville. He is a two-time NCAA Division II Indoor national champion in the mile and finished as national runner-up twice. A native of Naperville, Ill., he finished his career with three national titles and eight All-America citations.
A senior math/actuary science/education major with a 3.88 G.P.A., Wilk is the only repeat selection on the Capital One Academic All-America® NCAA Division II men’s cross country/track and field first team. A native of Geneva, Ohio, he was the 2010 NCAA Elite 88 Award winner for outdoor track and is a three-time All-American. He holds four indoor and four outdoor school records at Seton Hill.
Capital One Academic All-America® Division II Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Team
The 15 members of the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America® Division II Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country first team have an average G.P.A. of 3.64.
Graney led a trio of Grand Valley State University student-athletes named to the Capital One Academic All-America® Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country first team. She was joined by Grand Valley State teammates Rachel Patterson and Kristen Hixson on the 15-person first team.
Patterson is also a graduate student with major in physical therapy and a 4.00 G.P.A. She was a four-time All-American between the indoor and outdoor seasons and won three national championships. A native of Rochester, Mich., she won the 5,000-meter run (16:07.28) at the NCAA indoor championships and also ran a leg of the winning distance medley relay team. At the NCAA outdoor meet, she won the 10,000-meter run (34:55.03) and took third place in the 5,000-meter run (17:48.86), helping Grand Valley win a national championship. She turned in a U.S. Olympic Trials “B” cut time in the 10,000-meter run earlier in the year.
A biology major with a 3.95 G.P.A., Hixson was the lone sophomore named to the Capital One Academic All-America® Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country first team. A native of Remus, Mich., she won both the indoor and outdoor national championships in the pole vault. She won the indoor vault title with a vault of 4.00 meters. The, she posted a vault of 4.15 outdoors. Prior to nationals she had a vault of 4.16 meters, the second-best in NCAA Division II history.
Ferris State University placed two athletes on the Capital One Academic All-America® Track & Field/Cross Country first team, senior Christina Muir, a recreation leadership management major with a 3.87 G.P.A., and junior Shelby Janutol, a biology major with a 4.00 G.P.A.
An eleven-time All-American, Muir is the only four-time All-American in cross country. The St. Albans, U.K .native was named the 2011 GLIAC Cross Country Athlete of the Year after placing seventh at Nationals, the highest finish ever by a Bulldog. She earned All-American honors during the indoor track & field campaign with a third place showing in the 5,000-meter run and a fourth place finish as part of the distance medley relay team. She capped off her career with two All-American performances at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Muir ran second in the 5,000-meter run (17:48.09) and was fourth in the 10,000-meter run (35:10.58).
Janutol became Ferris State’s first-ever recipient of the NCAA Elite 89 Award for owning the top G.P.A. for all female competitors at the 2012 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships. She went on to earn All-American honors as part of the distance medley relay team and she was also a recipient of the Meijer GLIAC Commissioner’s Award
Three members of the Capital One Academic All-America® Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country first team also earned Academic All-America® accolades last year while a fourth was a 2010 Academic All-America® selection.
Senior Neely Spence of Shippensburg became a three-time Academic All-America® honoree after earning second team honors in 2011 and third team notice in 2010.
A human communications studies major with a 3.85 G.P.A., Spence had an amazing career in which she was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Athlete of the Year in all ten collegiate seasons of competition. A native of Shippensburg, Pa., she may have added to that total but she did not compete during the track & field season after signing a professional running contract. In cross country, she was a two-time national champ, winning the 2010 and 2011 titles. She was a three-time All-American, a four-time NCAA Atlantic Region champion and a PSAC champion. Spence was also named the 2011 USTFCCCA Division II Women’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the Cross Country Female Athlete of the Year.
Spence became the first athlete in PSAC history to become a four-time PSAC Athlete of the Year in any sport, earning the honor in cross country all four years, along with three times in indoor track & field and three times in outdoor track. In track & field she was an eight-time All-American and six-time National Champion.
Senior Kate Griewisch of Lenoir-Rhyne University, a biology major with a 3.81 G.P.A., was a second team selection in 2011. A native of Banner Elk, N.C., and Griewisch was a seven-time All-American while competing in cross country and track & field. She concluded her career by earning All-American honors twice at the 2012 Outdoor Track & Field National Championships, placing third in the 10,000-meter run and fourth in the 5,000-meter run. She was a three-time All-American in cross country, including a fourth place finish at last year’s Nationals. Griewisch won the past three NCAA Division II Southeast Regional meets and was the winner of the South Atlantic Conference championship in 2009 and 2011.
In addition, Griewisch was named as the SAC Women's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of The Year three times (2009-11) and was the 2010-11 female recipient of the SAC Presidents Award. The award is the highest honor the league gives out on an annual basis.
Junior Rose Mascoli of East Stroudsburg University is an exercise science major with a 3.98 G.P.A. who was a third team Academic All-America® pick last year. The Lebanon, Pa. native was an NCAA provisional qualifier in five events in track & field – the 3K, 5K and 10K outdoors, along with the 5K and distance medley relay indoors. She scored in six events at the PSAC Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships. She also placed fifth at the PSAC Cross Country Championships and took eighth place at the Atlantic Regional. As a sophomore, she was a three-time All-American, in cross country and the 5,000 and 10,000-meter outdoor runs. She did not compete in indoor track & field her first two years as she swam for East Stroudsburg.
Marie Patton of Colorado School of Mines, an engineering physics major with a 3.97 G.P.A., was named to the first team after previously earning third team accolades in 2010. The junior missed the 2010-11 campaign due to injury, but returned this year to post NCAA provisional qualifying times in the 3,000-meter steeplechase during the outdoor track & field season as well as the mile, the 5,000-meter run and the distance medley relay during the indoor season. A native of Littleton, Col., Patton is a three-time All-American in track & field.
Senior Hope Christie of University of Wisconsin Parkside has a 3.85 G.P.A. as a nursing major. She earned All-America honors in cross country after a 35th place finish at Nationals. She also competed at the indoor nationals and placed tenth in the 5,000-meter run, followed by a 12th-place showing in the 1,500-meter run at the outdoor nationals. A native of Somers, Wis., Christie competed in seven national championship meets. She was recently named the Great Lakes Valley Conference 2012 Women’s Track & Field Scholar Athlete of the Year.
An art major with a 3.85 G.P.A., senior Lauren Kleppin of Western State College was a four-time All-American in 2011-12. A native of South Milwaukee, Wis., she set the all-time Division II record in the 10,000-meter run during the season and also owns a top-20 time in the 5,000-meter run in the Division II history. She finished third at the NCAA Division II cross country national championship and took second place at the NCAA indoor 5,000-meter run. She added two more All-American efforts during the outdoor track & field season, finishing as the national runner-up in the 10,000-meter run and taking fifth place in the 5,000-meter run. Kleppin was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic Runner of the Year in cross country last fall.
Senior Lindsay Lettow of the University of Central Missouri is a psychology major with a 3.87 G.P.A. A native of Urbandale, Iowa, she was the USTFCCA Women’s Field Athlete of the Year in outdoor track & field for the second straight year after winning her second straight national title in the heptathlon. She also earned All-American honors in the long jump and the 400-meter hurdles. Lettow has won the Women’s Field Athlete of the Year award four times, including the 2011 and 2012 indoor seasons, becoming one of only two Division II athletes to win the award four times.
Lettow’s score of 5,748 points in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championships set school and conference records and was the third-best in Division II all-time. She has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Katelyn Mona of Emporia State University, Amy Varsell of Bentley’s College and Jennifer Zweifel of Truman State University complete the Capital One Academic All-America® Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country first team.
A health promotions major with a 3.99 G.P.A., Mona was a three-time All-American for the Hornets after placing seventh at the 800-meter run in the indoor nationals. In 2011, the senior from Lenexa, Kan. placed fifth indoors and seventh outdoors in the 800-meter run. She is a ten-time Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association champion, including wining three events at the MIAA Indoor Championships.
One of four juniors named to the Capital One Academic All-America® Division II first team, Varsell is a corporate finance & accounting major with a 3.86 G.P.A. She earned All-American honors for the fourth time, all in the 800-meter run, after capturing fourth place in the 800-meter run at the 2012 NCAA outdoor nationals. A native of Burlington, Conn., she took third place at the 2012 indoor nationals. In 2011, she was fourth in the 800, both indoors and outdoors. She was named the 2011-12 USTFCCCA Division II East Regional Indoor and Outdoor Athlete of the Year. In addition, Varsell captured the Northeast-10 Sport Excellence Award for women’s indoor track & field and was named the NE-10 Women’s Track Athlete of the Year. She is a five-time NE-10 champion, including the 800 and 1500-meter runs at the 2012 outdoor championships.
Zweifel, a health science major with a 3.71 G.P.A., is a six-time All-American who placed third in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. She also took third in the triple jump and sixth in the long jump at the outdoor nationals. A native of Maryville, Mo., she was named as Truman’s Most Outstanding Female Student-Athlete for 2012. In addition, she was named Miss Northeast Missouri, the first stage of Miss Missouri and Miss USA Beauty Pageants.
About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation (
www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., and ING Bank, fsb,
had $216.5 billion in deposits and $294.5 billion in total assets outstanding as of March 31, 2012. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One and ING Direct offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has approximately 1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index.
Capital One, an NCAA Corporate Champion, began its affiliation with college sports with the sponsorship of the 2001 Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl) and ESPN’s Capital One Bowl Week. In addition, Capital One sponsors the ABC College Football Halftime Report, Capital One All-America Mascot team, Capital One Academic All-America Program, and supports all 89 NCAA Championships including the Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, and numerous other collegiate athletics programs.
About the Capital One Academic All-America® Program
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports. For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.
For more information, contact:
Dan O’Connell
Towson University
Academic All-America® Vice-Chair for Publicity/Communications
doconnell@towson.edu
(410) 704-3102
Bob Shreve
Edinboro University
Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity
rshreve@edinboro.edu
(814) 732-1834
Shane Meling
Texas A&M Kingsville
Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity
shane.meling@tamuk.edu
(361) 593-2870