CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's track and field men's and women's programs saw nine total Islanders named to the SLC All-Academic Teams as announced by the Southland Conference Tuesday.
"To have nine athletes make the All-Academic team is a great accomplishment and we're proud of them getting it done on both the track and in the classroom," said head coach
Brent Ericksen. "Academics is our number one priority; it's where they're going to make their money and we'll do our best to have even more next year!"
The women's team had five members named to the All-Academic team with the men's team earning four spots. Earning their way onto the women's team were Grad Student
Valentina Campos, seniors
Quin Johnson and
Devon Polk with sophomores
Yasmine Steele and
Capri Wilson. On the men's side, grad students
Tristan Stellmach and
Timor Barrett earned selections along with senior
Ke'Tavion Humber and junior
Dennis Kipngeno.
Campos flourished through both the indoor and outdoor seasons, earning three victories on the season with two in the 5K and one in the 3K. She earned a GPA of 3.14, pursuing a Master of Business Administration. Her season-best mark of 18:20.25 in the 5K came at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships.
Johnson earned SLC First-Team Honors at the SLC Outdoor Championships after winning the 10K with a mark of 37:24.66. She ran the event at the Bryan Clay Invite and Texas Relays, both being invite-only events, placing third and ninth respectively at the meets. Johnson studied her way to a perfect 4.0 GPA with Criminal Justice as her major. She was an automatic selection for the All-Academic team.
Polk competed at the Texas Relays in the 4x400m relay where the team ran a collective 3:51.90. She competed in three events at the SLC Outdoor Championships and earned season best times of 14.00s in the 100m hurdles and 1:02.34 in the 400m hurdles for fourth. She has earned a collective 3.48 GPA in Kinesiology.
Majoring in marketing, Steele has earned a collective 3.76 GPA to earn her first All-Academic Team selection. She was named to the SLC Third Team at the Outdoor Championships in the 4x100m relay and in the 4x400m relay and distance medley relay at the SLC Indoor Championships. She helped A&M-Corpus Christi to third place finishes in both relays at the J Fred Duckett Twilight meet.
Wilson highlighted her season by making her way to the NCAA West Regionals for the second year in a row, running a 12.11s mark at the event. She studies Elementary Education and has earned a 3.17 GPA through two years of studies. Wilson earned SLC Second-Team honors in the 100m and Third-Team honors in the 200m dash at the SLC Outdoor Championships. She competed at the Mt. SAC Relays and 2022 Beach Invitational in which both required invites.
Barrett earned his way to his second All-Academic Selection, as he worked on his graduate degree in Kinesiology, sitting at a 3.50 GPA. Barrett ran at the NCAA West Regionals in the 400m hurdles, also earning invites to the Mt. SAC Relays and 2022 Beach Invitational. Barrett was a part of an Islander quartet recognized by the USTFCCCA (United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) for his performance in the men's 110m hurdles as the group sat sixth in the nation.
Humber was one of two Islanders to earn an automatic berth on the All-Academic team with a 3.67 GPA, majoring in Psychology. He also earned recognition by the USTFCCCA in the 110m hurdles while competing at the NCAA West Regionals in the event, crossing the finish line with a mark of 14.17s. Humber earned SLC First-Team honors in the 110m hurdles and Third-Team honors in the 4x400m relay at the SLC Outdoor Championships. His highlights included performances at the Texas Relays, Mt. SAC Relays and 2022 Beach Invitational.
Kipngeno was the second Islander to earn an automatic bid to the All-Academic Team, marking his second time with the distinction. At the SLC Outdoor Championships, he won both the men's 5K and 10K to be named to the SLC First-Team twice. During the Indoor season, he earned SLC Second-Team honors twice, finishing runner-up in the 3K and 5K. He competed in the Texas Relays and Mt. Sac Relays, finishing seventh in the former with a time of 14:02.87. Kipngeno has a 3.27 GPA through three years of studying Nursing.
Stellmach was the final member of the track and field squad to be named to the SLC All-Academic team. He competed at the Texas Relays as well as the Bryan Clay Invitational. He's working his way through a Master of Business Administration, making his way to a 3.90 GPA.
All the teams are based off of a 50% rule where half of all nominations are named to the team with votes coming from head coaches, sports information directors and academic staff members from each respective school.
The full list of All-Academic Selections can be found
here.
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