2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-District Cross Country/Track & Field Teams
NEW ORLEANS -- In a Thursday announcement, Academy of Art University men's cross country/track & field runner
Valentin Pepiot was named to the 2015-16 College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District Team after excelling athletically in addition to delivering a cumulative 3.75 GPA in the School of Multimedia Communications.
Student-athletes were selected by CoSIDA and recognized as the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. To qualify for the CoSIDA All-District Cross Country/Track & Field Teams in Division II, a student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or greater through the most-recent semester, must be a starter or key reserve, and completed one full calendar year at his or her institution. A total of 92 student-athletes representing 60 Division II institutions met these requirements.
"Val has consistently managed to hold and achieve a high standard as an athlete and a student and really in everything he has undertaken," said director of track & field/cross country
Torrey Olson. "That ability to expect highly of himself, often more highly than anybody else could rightly expect of him, will continue to serve him well for a long time. He is very deserving of this recognition."
The program's first male cross country
NCAA All-American after finishing 7th at Nationals, Pepiot proceeded to set numerous track records his senior year, including the indoor mile and outdoor 800m, 1500m, and 5000m. ART U's leader in every cross country race over the past two seasons, the native of Besançon, France is a two-time PacWest Cross Country Runner of the Year and All-PacWest First Team, seven-time PacWest Weekly award winner (combining cross country and track), two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic Team, now two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District Team, and D2ADA Academic Achievement Award recipient in 2014-15. Pepiot is currrently in Florida to contest two events at
NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Nationals.
There are eight districts in all and three separate teams for NCAA Division I, II and III as well as a College Division, which includes NAIA, Canadian and junior colleges. District 8 includes the PacWest, California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). Academic All-District honorees advance to the Academic All-America Team ballot. The CoSIDA Division II Academic All-American Team will be announced next month.
