Wolverines Recognized by USTFCCCA for Academics

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Nine women from the University of Michigan track and field team were recognized on Thursday (July 26) for their accomplishments in both athletics and academics with All-Academic honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), tying a program-best total.

Featuring its most individual honorees in a single season since 2013, the women's squad as a whole performed well enough to earn a collective team All-Academic plaudit for the seventh year in a row with a cumulative 3.17 GPA under head coaches James Henry and Jerry Clayton.

Leading the way was graduate student Erin Finn, who claimed her fifth career All-Academic honor on the heels of last month being named Michigan's first three-time first team Academic All-American.

Finn has been able to claim five awards over her five years at Michigan due to the fact that the award can be earned for the indoor and/or outdoor seasons. Having been forced by injury to miss either the indoor or outdoor seasons multiple years -- but never both in the same year -- she has been eligible all five years.

Joining her on the list were All-Americans Claire Borchers, Aaron Howell and Gina Sereno, along with with Courtney Jacobsen, Hannah Meier, Katt Miner, Maddy Trevisan and Sarah Uhlian.

This marks the third career track-specific award for steeplechaser Borchers, and the second such honor for heptathlete Howell. This is the first career track-specific award for thrower Jacobsen, distance runners Meier, Sereno and Trevisan, and jumpers Miner and Uhlian.

Finn has also earned the honor three times during the cross country season, with Trevisan having claimed it twice and Borchers once.

To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track and Field Team, a student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade-point average of 3.25 or better and have met one of two athletic standards. For the indoor season, a student-athlete must have finished the regular season ranked in the national top 96 in an individual event or ranked in the national top 48 (collective listing) in a relay event on the official NCAA POP list provided by TFRRS.org. For the outdoor season, a student-athlete must have participated in any round of the NCAA Division I Championships (including preliminary rounds).

Three among the group claimed Big Ten titles in 2018, with Finn winning at 10,000 meters outdoors, and Borchers winning the steeplechase and running a leg of the victorious indoor distance medley relay with Meier.

Three more earned bronze medals in Big Ten competition as Howell was third in the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon, Sereno was third in the indoor 5,000 meters and Zieve was third in the steeplechase.

Borchers was the top national finisher of the group, placing fourth in the NCAA Outdoor Championships steeplechase final. Howell and Sereno were both second team All-American indoors in the pentathlon and 3,000 meters, respectively.

Nationally, 871 women from 201 different institutions earned the individual award. Michigan was one of 219 programs nationally to earn team All-Academic honors, and one of 11 from the Big Ten.

USTFCCCA All-Academic Individuals
Claire Borchers, Sr., International Studies / Spanish
Erin Finn, Sr., Epidemiology MPH
Aaron Howell, Sr., International Studies / Sociology
Courtney Jacobsen, So., LSA Undeclared
Hannah Meier, Sr., Health and Fitness
Katt Miner, So., LSA Undeclared
Gina Sereno, Sr., Management MM
Madeline Trevisan, So., Mechanical Engineering
Sarah Uhlian, Sr., Biopsychology, Cognition & Neuroscience