BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University cross country teams had four student-athletes recognized as U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honorees, announced last Friday by the organization.

To earn All-Academic accolades from the USTFCCCA, a student-athlete must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.25 and finish among the top 30 percent of eligible runners at the regional championships and/or the top half of the field at the NCAA Championships.

On the men’s side, senior Andrew Wise (Denver, CO/East) earned the honor for the third time in his career. He was the top placer for the Vikings at the 2017 NCAA West Regional 10,000-meter race in 14th (30:30.9, All-Region honoree) and also finished 10th at the GNAC Championships last fall in a time of 25:41.5 (All-GNAC honoree) in the 8,0000-meter race. Wise, who is a three-time GNAC All-Academic team selection, helped the WWU men to place 8th at the regional after finishing 4th at the conference championships.

Seniors Maddy Hutchison (Snoqualmie, WA/Mount Si) and Alexandra Laiblin (Oak Harbor, WA), along with sophomore Tracy Melville (Lamont, WA/Lind-Ritzville/Sprague), each earned the honor for the WWU women. Hutchison and Laiblin were each recognized for the second time in their careers while Melville was a first-time honoree.

Melville placed 39th (22:06.4) at the NCAA West Regional in 2017 while Laibilin was 59th (22:29.2) and Hutchison finished 61st (22:31.3) as the Vikings finished 8th as a team in the 6,000-meter race. The trio were each GNAC All-Academic Team members last fall with Laiblin earning the honor for the third time while Hutchison was a second-time honoree and Melville was recognized during her first year of award eligibility. The three were each among the top five WWU placers at the GNAC Championships last fall as WWU finished 3rd.

Wise was one of 282 men in NCAA Division II to be honored by the USTFCCCA while WWU women recognized were three of 393 honorees.