Men's Track and Field 6/19/2018 11:01:00 AM

Leif Van Grinsven repeats as a Google Cloud Division III Academic All-American

Men's Track and Field 6/19/2018 11:01:00 AM

Leif Van Grinsven repeats as a Google Cloud Division III Academic All-American

Wheaton, Ill. - Junior Leif Van Grinsven of the Wheaton College men's track & field team has been named to the 2017-18 Google Cloud Division III Men's Track & Field/Cross Country Division III Academic All-America Team. Van Grinsven is a repeat honoree, earning first team recognition this year following a Second Team nod in 2016-17. He is the first Wheaton men's track & field athlete to earn multiple Academic All-America selections and the first student-athlete from Wheaton to repeat since Kirsten Nitz (women's swimming) and Kyle Mellinger (baseball) earned the recognition for three-consecutive years in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

A two-time Division III All-American in the decathlon, Van Grinsven is an Interdisciplinary Studies major with a 3.98 cumulative grade point average. This Spring, the junior earned his second-consecutive CCIW Championship in the decathlon with 6,725 points and earned his third-straight USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region honor in the event. During the 2018 indoor track & field season, Van Grinsven set a new school record in the heptathlon with 4,919 points, qualifying for the Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships in the multi-event competition.

The Google Cloud Academic All-America program honors student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level in athletics and in the classroom. Members of the eight First Team Academic All-District squads in each Division advance to the national ballot, where they have the opportunity to be selected for the Academic All-America Team. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA; a 2,000-plus member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III, NAIA and junior colleges covering all NCAA championship sports.

Through the years, Wheaton student-athletes have earned a total of 88 Academic All-American selections through the prestigious program. Since 2000, there have been 63 Academic All-American selections from Wheaton. There have been five Wheaton College men's track & field selection to earn Academic All-America recognition since the program began: Ben Richert (1995); Nate Mealy (2006); Mark Hiben (2016) and Van Grinsven (2017 and 2018).

In 2017-18, Wheaton produced two Google Cloud Academic All-Americans: Eric Stevenson (football) and Van Grinsven. There were four Academic All-District 7 honorees from Wheaton this year: Stefan Knoerr (football); Katie Park (women's tennis/at-large); Stevenson (football) and Van Grinsven (men's track & field/cross country).

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Players Mentioned

Leif Van Grinsven: S/H; Junior

Players Mentioned

Leif Van Grinsven
: Junior
: S/H