McNulty, Owens, and Sanchez named Academic All-Americans and the Lions named USTFCCCA All-Academic Team
The Mars Hill Men’s Cross Country was recognized for having the 3rd highest cross country team cumulative GPA in the nation and has earned Team All-Academic recognition for the 15th time in school history along with individual Academic All-Americans Brandon McNulty, Justin Owens, and Sean Sanchez.
NEW ORLEANS, La.- For the third consecutive season, the Mars Hill Men's Cross Country team earned U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Team recognition and ranks as the men's cross country program with the 3rd highest team GPA in the country among DII schools with a cumulative team GPA of 3.74. This is the 15th time in school history that Mars Hill Men's Cross Country has earned Team All-Academic recognition.
Three current Mountain Lions also garnered USTFCCCA Individual All-Academic honors for the first time in their careers.
Brandon McNulty (SO) majoring in business entrepreneurship.
Justin Owens (SR) in the Master of Management program.
Sean Sanchez (SO) majoring in recreation and sport management.
For the full list of individual honorees, please click here.
There are five male Lions who have earned the individual Academic All-American honors for all four years of their competition:
- James Thompson (2002-2005)
- Eric Blackburn (2009-2012)
- Nathan Jones (2013-2016)
- Brandon Beard (2014-2017)
- Gil Gilreath (2014-2017)
A total of 318 student-athletes representing 101 institutions made up the Individual All-Academic list. To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country team in Division II, a student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or better through the most recent semester, completed at least 12 credit hours in the semester of cross country competition and placed in either the top 50 percent at the most recent NCAA Championship or top 30 percent at the NCAA Regional Championships.
Counting Mars Hill's three representatives, 24 South Atlantic Conference student-athletes were recognized on the All-Academic Men's Cross Country team.
A total of 112 institutions were recognized as Team All-Academic performers. To qualify as a USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team, the team must have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or better and have compiled a team score at their respective NCAA regional championship.
Seven out of twelve schools in the South Atlantic Conference earned All-Academic Team recognition.
For the full list of team honorees, please click here.
