2019-20 Academic All-District Men's Cross Country/Track & Field Teams
GREENWOOD, Ind. -- After recently being named an
All-American in the Distance Medley Relay, Academy of Art cross country/track & field's
Rabah Houali was recognized for his scholastic success, announced as part of the 2020 Academic All-District Men's Track & Field/Cross Country Team, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Student-athletes were selected by members of
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 and must have completed one full calendar year at his or her institution (graduate students are an exception to this requirement). On the men's side, a total of 87 individuals from 68 teams were honored. First Team Academic All-District honorees advance to the Academic All-America ballot to be announced in June.
In his final season with Academy of Art cross country, Houali delivered some of the best performances of his career in 2019. While working on a 3.54 GPA in Communications & Media Technologies, Houali collected a
PacWest Runner of the Week honor early on thanks to his 8k personal record at the
Kim Duyst Invitational then turned in his fastest 10k time with a 41st-place result at
NCAA Regionals.
With indoor track & field, Houali contributed to all three of top DMR times in program history in 2020. He initially broke the record with
Grant Swinton,
Joshua Browne, and
James Young at the UW Invitational on
Jan. 31, added another impressive mark with Young,
Kaze Poitier, and
Charlie Messai at the GVSU Big Meet on
Feb. 15 then closed out the regular season alongside Messai, Poitier, and Young with the fastest time in ART U history (9:50.24) at the Boston Last Chance Meet on
Feb. 28, earning the team All-Americans as seventh in the country. Individually, Houali ran the best indoor 800m of his career (1:51.56) on the first day of the GVSU Big Meet (
Feb. 14) to further solidify himself as the program's record-holder. He also added the top 600m mark (1:21.68) in Academy of Art history at the Hillsdale Wide Track Classic on
Feb. 8.
This is the first time Houali has earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in his career.
