Harvard Women’s Track and Field Earns USTFCCCA All-Academic Honors

Havard Women's Track and Field team earned a 3.41 GPA which earned them USTFCCCA All-Academic team honors. (courtesy Harvard Athletic Communications

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard women's track and field team has been honored by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) as one of the organization's All-Academic teams.

The Crimson compiled a 3.41 grade point average and was one of eight Ivy League schools to be recognized including Princeton recording the best GPA of the 164 institutions.

Senior Claire Richardson , junior Kailyn Kuzmuk and sophomore Mary Hirst all were named to the USTFCCCA 2011 Division I Track and Field All-Academic team. Richardson competed in the NCAA Championship event this past season as she recorded the second-fastest time in Harvard history in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:25.80. Richardson had been recognized for her academic achievement back in 2010 as she was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team.

Kuzmuk and Hirst finished up stellar 2010-11 campaigns of their own as Kuzmuk placed seventh at the ECAC championships in the mile event with a time of 4:41.95 while Hirst placed fifth at the in the heptathlon at Heptagonal Championships

For a team to be considered for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team award, it must have competed and compiled a team score at an NCAA Regional Championship and also have a minimum 3.00 team cumulative GPA. For the individual awards the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and have met either the NCAA Division I indoor automatic or provisional qualifying standard or the NCAA Division I outdoor regional or national qualifying standard in his/her event.