Eight athletes and the Wayne State College women's track and field team have received the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Award announced Monday afternoon.
            To be eligible for the team academic award, an institution must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher while individual award winners must carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher and have finished their respective event ranked in the top 50 nationally or have competed on a relay team that finished in the top 35 nationally.
            As a team, Wayne State was one of 12 teams from the Northern Sun Conference to earn the honor and finished the 2025-26 school year with a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 to earn the award for a 21^st straight season. 
            Individually, eight Wildcat athletes were also honored for their work in the classroom.  They include seniors Anna Coffee and Olivia Schwarzrock, junior Torrance Tso and sophomores Taylor Arp, Allie Czapla, McKinley Grover, Zoey Holmes and Reagan Murphy. 
            Coffee, a senior heptathlete from Hinton, Iowa, carried a 3.28 grade point average majoring in science education.  On the track this year, she had a fifth-place finish in the pentathlon at the NSIC Indoor Championships with an NCAA provisional mark of 3,478 points.  She also won the Wildcat Inspiration Award at the year-end WSC Athletic Honors Banquet after overcoming numerous knee injuries in her career to compete again.
            Schwarzrock, a senior thrower from Gibbon, Minnesota, maintained a 3.88 grade point average majoring in criminal justice.  She received All-NSIC honors at the NSIC Outdoor Championships placing second in the shot put (45' 7 ¼") and was eighth in the hammer throw.  Schwarzrock also had All-NSIC finishes at the NSIC Indoor Championships taking second in the weight throw and third-place in the shot put.
            Tso, a junior thrower from Norfolk, recorded a 3.77 grade point average majoring in psychology.  She had a fourth-place finish in the discus at the NSIC Outdoor Championships with a top mark of 144' 1".
            Arp, a sophomore thrower from Arlington HS, produced a 3.97 grade point average while majoring in elementary education.  She was an All-NSIC performer at the NSIC Outdoor Championships thanks to a second-place finish in the hammer throw (171' 6").
            Czapla, a sophomore distance runner from Blair, maintained a 3.36 grade point average majoring in business administration and management.  She was the top finisher for WSC at all six cross country meets in the fall, ran a leg on the eighth-place distance medley relay team and had a season-best time of 11:50.78 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
            Grover, a sophomore thrower from Gordon-Rushville HS, majored in exercise science and had a 3.25 grade point average.  She earned All-America First Team honors placing fifth in the discus at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in May at Emporia, Kansas and was All-NSIC with a third-place finish in the discus while also placing eighth in the shot put.
            Holmes, a sophomore middle distance runner from Forest City, Iowa, posted a 3.82 grade point average this season majoring in health and physical education.  She ran a leg on new school record sprint medley relay team this spring at the Drake Relays and ran on several relay teams at the NSIC Championships that placed seventh.
            Murphy, a sophomore hurdler from Algona, Iowa (Bishop Garrigan HS), is majoring in applied human and sport physiology and recorded a 3.58 grade point average this season.  On the track she had a fifth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 14.23 and just missed a medal taking ninth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.87) during the indoor season.