Baumgarten, Sheeran Earn CoSIDA Academic All-District Honors
5/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
May 25, 2017
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Aaron Baumgarten and Will Sheeran of the University of Michigan were voted to the Academic All-District 5 team for men's track and field/cross country, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Thursday (May 25).
Baumgarten, a senior from Williamston, Michigan, graduated in April with his undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering. Sheeran, originally from Medina, Washington, is a graduate transfer from the Brown University pursuing a degree in molecular, cellular and developmental biology.
Though he graduated this past spring, Baumgarten will continue both his academic and athletic pursuits in Ann Arbor next year as a graduate student in the mechanical engineering program. He has a full year of cross country, indoor track and outdoor track remaining.
Sheeran has exhausted his athletic eligibility but will continue his graduate studies at U-M into next year.
With this announcement, Baumgarten and Sheeran both advance to the ballot for Academic All-America honors. Each of the Academic All-District honorees are entered onto the ballot for first-, second- and third-team awards to be announced later this month.
Baumgarten and Sheeran were both scorers for the Wolverines at this winter's Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships. Baumgarten was Michigan's top cross country runner during the fall, while Sheeran was the second fastest of three Wolverines who cracked the sub-four-minute barrier in the mile during the winter.
In cross country, Baumgarten was Michigan highest finisher at both the Big Ten Championships and Great Lakes Regional with sixth- and 10th-place finishes, respectively.
During the winter season, Sheeran was one of three Wolverines to run sub-four in the mile at the Boston U John Thomas Terrier Classic in late January, clocking a career-best 3:59.15. At that same competition, Baumgarten crossed the line at 3,000 meters in a career-best 7:57.32.
Baumgarten finished third at the Big Ten Indoor Championships in that event and sixth at 5,000 meters to lead Michigan as the squad's top-scoring athlete on the weekend. Sheeran finished sixth in the mile final and 12th at 5,000 meters.
Outdoors, Baumgarten ran a career-best 29:53.57 over 10,000 meters and qualified to the NCAA East Prelims at 5,000 meters with his 14:05.05 clocking at the Penn Relays.
This announcement from CoSIDA falls on the same day the Wolverines track and field team opened up the NCAA postseason at the East Preliminary Rounds. Fourteen men will compete in Lexington, Kentucky, at the University of Kentucky, for berths into the NCAA Outdoor Championships (June 7-10) in Eugene, Oregon.
Communications Contact: Kyle Terwillegar
