NCAA DI Cross Country Individual Academic Awards – 2015

NEW ORLEANS — Molly Seidel continues a trend.

Sean McGorty adds to Stanford’s legacy.

Both Seidel and McGorty were honored on Friday as NCAA Division I Scholar Athletes of the Year for the 2015 cross country season by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Seidel is the sixth woman in the past seven years — third in a row — to win an NCAA XC title and be named Scholar Athlete of the Year that same calendar year. She joins Iona’s Kate Avery (2014), Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino (2013), Villanova’s Sheila Reid (2011, 2010) and Illinois’ Angela Bizzarri (2009) in that exclusive sorority.

A senior from Hartland, Wisconsin, Seidel has a 3.525 GPA and is majoring in anthropology with a supplementary major in Arts & Letters pre-health. Seidel is the first Notre Dame athlete to win the award.

McGorty, a junior from Fairfax, Virginia, is the third male athlete from Stanford to earn the distinction of Scholar Athlete of the Year. Chris Derrick won twice (2010, 2011) and Neftalem Araia took home the honor in 2006, the first year of the award.

At the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, McGorty — who has a 3.47 GPA and is majoring in management science and engineering — placed seventh overall to help the Cardinal to a third-place team finish.

While McGorty and Seidel stood out, their peers’ accomplishments shouldn’t be overlooked. In total, there were 160 women and 90 men who were named USTFCCCA All-Academic. In order for a student-athlete to qualify for the honor, they must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 and finished in the top-25 (or 10 percent) at regionals or as an All-American at the national meet.

Twenty women on the list had perfect GPAs (4.00), compared to four men.

Of the 40 All-Americans from each gender that were crowned in Louisville, Kentucky, 33 women and 16 men found their way onto these lists.

Of the 205 women’s teams that had at least one honoree, there were four teams that had five — 2015 champion New Mexico, Georgetown, Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt. (Edit: late addition University of Rochester had a nation-best seven honorees).

Edit: Six men’s teams shared the national lead for most honorees: Michigan, Lamar, Oklahoma State, Furman, Iona and Stanford.

The full list of student-athletes honored by the USTFCCCA can be found below.