Arkansas Tops Nation In Academic Achievement
NEW ORLEANS – For the fourth time in five years the Arkansas women’s track and field team has been recognized as the USTFCCCA Indoor Scholar Team of the Year. The Razorbacks also claimed the top academic team honors for the outdoor season making the program the most accomplished scholastic women’s track and field squad of the year.
The Scholar Team of the Year award is presented to the highest-placing team with at least a 3.00 cumulative team GPA represented at the indoor or outdoor NCAA Division I Championships.
Freshman powerhouse Lexi Weeks headlined Arkansas’ scholarly roster which featured 11 individual All-Academic award winners. A two-time national champion and 4.0 chemistry student at the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences during her freshman collegiate campaign, Weeks was named the USTFCCCA Indoor and Outdoor Scholar Field-Athlete of the Year.
Lexi Weeks is the second Razorback to receive indoor field recognition (Sandi Morris 2015), the first Razorback to receive outdoor field recognition and the only Arkansas student-athlete to sweep the award through both seasons.
Two additional Arkansas freshman were part of the Razorback 11 selected to the All-Academic team as All-Americans: Devin Clark (3.88) and Tori Weeks (4.0) led the team with two of the highest grade point averages. Clark (steeplechase) and Tori Weeks (pole vault) were instant contributors for Arkansas this season as both managed to pick up points in their respective events at an NCAA championship this season.
Four seniors — including NCAA Woman of the Year nominee Taylor Ellis-Watson — also contributed to Arkansas’ academic success. Ellis-Watson, along with Alex Gochenour, Jessica Kamilos and Megan Zimlich all posted GPAs well above the required 3.25 for All-Academic selection. Three of the four student-athletes earned a GPA above 3.5.
Taliyah Brooks, Leigha Brown, Valerie Reina and Regan Ward rounded out the list of academically adept Razorbacks.
Of the 11 represented, Brown, Ellis-Watson, Gochenour, Kamilos, Reina, Ward and Zimlich are all repeat selections.
USTFCCCA All-Academic
Taliyah Brooks – Communication, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
Leigha Brown – Kinesiology, College of Education and Health Professions
Devin Clark – Kinesiology, College of Education and Health Professions
Taylor Ellis-Watson – Counseling, College of Education and Health Professions
Alexandria Gochenour – Agricultural Business, Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
Jessica Kamilos – Kinesiology, College of Education and Health Professions
Valerie Reina – Elementary Education, College of Education and Health Professions
Regan Ward – Geology, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
Megan Zimlich – Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Sam M. Walton College of Business
Lexi Weeks – Chemistry, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
Tori Weeks – Chemistry, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
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