2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-America Cross Country/Track & Field Teams

AUSTIN, Tex. -- Continuing a historic season, Academy of Art University men's track & field/cross country runner Valentin Pepiot followed up his 2015-16 College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District Team honor by becoming the program's first Academic All-America First Team recipient as announced on Thursday. Pepiot completed his senior year as a three-time All-American athletically and worked his way to a cumulative 3.75 GPA in the School of Multimedia Communications.

Narrowed down from the 92 student-athletes who earned Academic All-District honors, 45 individuals made one of three Academic All-America teams as selected by a CoSIDA panel to recognize the nation's top combined performances athletically and in the classroom. To qualify for the CoSIDA All-America Cross Country/Track & Field All-District 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 and completed one full calendar year at his or her institution. Pepiot was one of seven student-athletes from the West Region to be recognized, but the only one to make First Team.

"This is a big honor for the university," said director of track & field/cross country Torrey Olson. "And Val is a fitting person to bring this recognition to both the school and the work our student-athletes are doing here."

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, two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District Team, and D2ADA Academic Achievement Award recipient in 2014-15.

Pepiot would then close out his collegiate career as a two-time NCAA All-American in track & field with inspired performances in both the 1500m and 5000m at Nationals. In recognition of both his postseason success and the 28 points he scored at the 2016 PacWest Championships (titles in both the 1500m and 5000m), Pepiot would go on to be named PacWest Conference Track Athlete of the Year as well.

A total of eight Academy of Art student-athletes have earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in the program's eight-year history, however, Pepiot is the first to earn the prestigious Academic All-American title.