AUSTIN, Texas – On Wednesday, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field program and women's cross country team combined for three CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). On the CoSIDA Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Team, senior Maia Austin receives first team honors as junior Kaija Crowe earns second team honors, while senior Will Ross notches first team honors on the CoSIDA Men's Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Team.

Despite the cancellation of spring competition during COVID-19, CoSIDA continued its sponsorship of the Academic All-America awards program. Student-athletes were selected based on career statistics.

The 2020 Academic All-America® Track & Field/Cross Country, selected by CoSIDA, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.

From Colorado Springs, Colo., senior Maia Austin tallies another career first in 2019-20 by earning CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team honors. As an Exercise Science major, Austin boasts a perfect 4.00 GPA as she excelled in both women's cross country and women's track & field for the Mountain Lions this past season. During the fall, Austin went on to claim U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honors in cross country where she also helped the Mountain Lions to a 15^th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships and clocked a PR time in the 6K on Oct. 26 at the RMAC Championship race, finishing 30^th overall in 21:54.9. On the track, Austin kept the 2019-20 season rolling as she registered a silver medal finish at the RMAC Championships in the women's mile with an improved provisional qualifying time of 4:52.76 to cement her place at the 2020 NCAA Championships, while helping the Mountain Lions win a conference championship. The mile was not the only event that Austin qualified for as she helped the women's DMR team clock the ninth fastest time in Division II at 11:39.28 earlier in the season. Though her converted mile time at conference championships punched her ticket to nationals, Austin's raw mile time of 5:00.04 at the New Mexico Team Open back in February gave the junior her new personal best. Austin's stellar performances earned her both a two-time USTFCCCA All-American and All-South Central Region selection in the mile and DMR. Austin's outstanding performances earned her RMAC Academic Player of the Year, RMAC All-Academic First Team, CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team, and two RMAC Summit Awards as she became the first student-athlete in school history to win the Summit Award in both sports.

Junior Kaija Crowe continues a stellar career in the black & gold as the Milaca, Minn. native now adds CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team to her list of accolades by holding a 3.565 GPA as a Communications: Digital Film Making major. The eight-time USTFCCCA All-American has been a machine in a Mountain Lion uniform as Crowe garnered an eye-popping 19 All-RMAC selections, 13 USTFCCCA All-Region selections, and three RMAC All-Academic First Team selections. Crowe caught the conference's attention in 2017 and 2018 as she was voted RMAC Indoor Freshman of the Year (2017) and RMAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year (2018). Despite the 2020 spring season being cut short, Crowe still had an impressive indoor season as she ranked top-10 in the RMAC in five different events including pentathlon (1^st- 3,639 points), 400m (3^rd- 57.50s), Long Jump (4^th- 5.80m), High Jump (5^th- 1.60m), and the 60m Hurdles (8^th- 9.12s). Crowe's long jump, high jump, and pentathlon marks also landed her top-10 in the South Central Region as she earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the pentathlon. At the RMAC Championships, Crowe improved on her provisional mark with a personal best 3,639 points to nationally qualify in pentathlon with the 12th best mark in DII, and become RMAC Champion in the event. Crowe took over at conference championships as she was responsible for 20.5 points scored and voted RMAC Athlete of the Meet for the third consecutive year to help the Mountain Lions win their second RMAC Indoor Track & Field Conference Championship.

A CoSIDA Academic All-America selection in 2019, senior Will Ross repeats as an Academic All-American with a 3.89 GPA in Electrical Engineering. Ross' Mountain Lion career has been nothing short of impressive as the two-time 2020 USTFCCCA All-American has notched 12 All-RMAC selections and seven USTFCCCA All-Region selections. As a jumps student-athlete, Ross has left a mark on the conference with four RMAC Triple Jump titles and one RMAC Long Jump title in his four years. The Colorado Springs, Colo. native continued his success during his senior season as he claimed the ninth best long jump mark (7.45m) in DII and the fourth best triple jump mark (15.36m) in DII to punch his ticket to the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships for both events. Those national qualifying marks came on the conference championship stage as he notched personal bests, set new school records, and was crowned RMAC Champion in the long jump and triple jump. Ross was responsible for a whopping 20 team points at conference championships as he helped the UCCS men's team win the program's first ever conference championship. The RMAC Male Academic Player of the Year's performances has earned him two All-RMAC First Team selections, two USTFCCCA All-South Central Region selections including top regional performer in the triple jump in the 2019-20 indoor season, and RMAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week for the week of Feb. 18.

The Mountain Lions have now totaled six CoSIDA Academic All-Americans for 2019-20 as Austin, Crowe, and Ross join women's soccer's Aleesa Muir, baseball's Matt Clarke, and men's soccer's Alex VonHolle.