BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- A pair of student-athletes from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) received Academic All-America honors from the College Sports Communicators (CSC) for men's cross country and track & field earlier this month.
Saint John's senior Tommy Allen and St. Olaf senior Will Kelly were both honored with selection to the Third Team.
Allen (Woodbury, Minn. | St. Paul Academy) graduated from Saint John's in May with a perfect 4.0 GPA in biochemistry (pre-medicine emphasis). He is a five-time MIAC Elite 22 Award recipient (twice each in indoor and outdoor track and once in cross country), which is awarded to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA among the All-MIAC honorees, and collected his sixth Academic All-MIAC (min. 3.5 GPA) honor later this month. The five MIAC Elite 22 Awards ties him with Bethel's Annessa Ihde for the most by a student-athlete since the honor was founded in 2013.
He became the first Johnnie to win the 800 meters indoors in 10 years (Thomas Feichtinger '16 in 2014) in February at the MIAC Indoor Championships and followed up the title with an incredible comeback to win the 1,000 meters – the first title by a Johnnie in the indoor 1,000 in program history – by 0:00.10. He won the MIAC title in the 800 outdoors as a sophomore in 2022 and is a seven-time All-MIAC (top-three) honoree: four indoors, two outdoors and one in cross country.
Kelly (Golf, Ill. | Glenbrook South) graduated from St. Olaf in May as a chemistry major with a 3.56 cumulative GPA and is preparing to compete at the NCAA Division I level at Montana State University next year while pursuing a PhD in biochemistry. In his final season at St. Olaf, Kelly earned All-America honors in all three of his seasons, finishing 26th nationally in cross country, 14th nationally in the indoor 5,000-meter run, and fourth nationally in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He also claimed three individual Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) titles by winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase outdoors after sweeping the crowns in the 3,000-meter run and 5,000-meter run indoors.
Over the course of his career on the Hill, Kelly was a four-time All-American, as he placed 13th nationally in cross country in the 2022 season prior to his three accolades this past year. The Golf, Ill. native also was a four-time individual conference champion, highlighted by back-to-back steeplechase titles to close out his career, and was the MIAC individual runner-up twice in cross country. Kelly collected 10 All-MIAC accolades and seven U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region honors over the course of his career, while also posting a 10th-place national finish in the steeplechase in 2023.
Academic All-America nominees must be a sophomore or better in terms of academic standing, with a 3.50 GPA or higher. Athletically, track and field nominees are based on their TFRRS performance list rankings and cross country submissions must finish in the top 50 of their respective NCAA Regional. The Academic All-District and All-America teams are voted on and selected by registered members of CSC.