Click here for the complete 2012 RMAC men's cross country All-Academic team.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Fort Lewis College men's cross country runner
Joey Brenner was named to the
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Academic second team, RMAC Assistant Commissioner Eric Danner announced on Dec. 12, 2012.
Skyhawk harriers
Zach Chenoweth,
Christian Gering and
Sam Kelly were named to the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll.
“I'm certainly as proud of the academic accomplishments as our athletic ones,” said first-year FLC head cross country coach
Mark Dutro. “Our beginning-of-the-season goal-setting included academic success as individuals and as a team. The time and commitment required to be a successful athlete and student can be very time-consuming and, at times, difficult to manage.”
The Skyhawk skipper praised all of his runners, particularly those who led FLC to a 23rd place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships on Nov. 17, 2012. “The cumulative GPA for the seven guys who ran at Nationals is a 3.05,” said Dutro. “Christian and Joey are two of those guys.”
Brenner, a 6-foot, 170-lb. sophomore from Lakeville North High School in Lakeville, Minn., carries a 3.78 grade point average in Engineering. A Dean's List student and athletic letterwinner both years at Fort Lewis, he set personal bests at the 8k and 10k distances in 2012. Brenner's time of 32:23.1 at the NCAA Championships marked the tenth fastest 10k time in FLC history. He also set a personal best 8k time of 27:16 at the PUMA/Joe I. Vigil Open in Alamosa, Colo., on Sept. 8.
Gering, a 5-foot-6, 135-lb. sophomore from Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, N.M., maintains a 3.35 GPA in Environmental Studies-Culture option. He ran the second fastest 10k in school history with a time of 31:04.2 at the NCAA Championships and also set a personal best at the 8k distance with a time of 27:06.7 at the RMAC Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Oct. 20. Gering was FLC's 2011 Most Valuable Runner.
“Zach has added to his RMAC Summit Award by making the Honor Roll,” he added. “Zach, Christian and Sam are also on the Dean's List this semester.”
Chenoweth, a 6-foot-2, 140-lb. sophomore from Sandia High School in Albuquerque, N.M., won the inaugural RMAC Summit Award by carrying the highest GPA (3.96, Exercise Science-Physiology option) of any participant in the 2012 RMAC men's cross country championships. While he wasn't one of FLC's seven runners in the varsity race, he did compete in the league's first-ever developmental meet that featured some of the nation's top up-and-coming young runners. He's also a three-time Dean's List student at Fort Lewis.
Chenoweth raced in five meets for the Skyhawks in 2012 and was one of FLC's top runners as a true freshman in 2011. He set his personal best at the 8k distance with a time of 29:10 at the PUMA/Joe I. Vigil Open in Alamosa on Sept. 8.
Kelly, a 6-foot-1, 160-lb. sophomore from Dolores High School in Dolores, Colo., maintains a 3.41 GPA in Music Business. He competed in two meets this year for the Skyhawks, shaving more than three minutes off his previous personal best at the 8k distance by finishing the PUMA/Joe I. Vigil Open in 30:41 in Alamosa, Colo., on Sept. 8.
To qualify for Academic All-RMAC accolades, student-athletes must have a GPA of 3.30 or better, be a starter or reserve and have competed two consecutive semesters at their current institution. The student-athlete's cumulative GPA is what they had earned prior to the cross country season beginning. RMAC sports information directors at schools that sponsor the sport of women's cross country selected the first and second teams.
Colorado Mines' Russell Drummond was chosen as the RMAC Men's Cross Country Academic Runner of the Year. He helped the Orediggers to a second place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships — the highest in school history. Drummond carries a 3.76 GPA in Civil Engineering.
The Skyhawk men's cross country team qualified for the NCAA Championships for just the second time ever in 2012. The school's previous trip came in 1996.
