Men's Team, Eight Individuals Collect USTFCCCA All-Academic Awards

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- All-Academic awards for the 2017 track and field season were bestowed upon the University of Michigan men's team and eight of its individuals on Friday (July 28) by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Michigan's individual All-Academic honorees include (with academic major): Aaron Baumgarten (aerospace engineering), Micah Beller (information), Ben Flanagan (movement science), Taylor McLaughlin (mechanical engineering), Connor Mora (sport management), Brennan Munley (biomolecular science), Will Sheeran (molecular, cellular & developmental biology) and Ned Willig (environmental informatics).

This marks the second consecutive year the Wolverines have earned the honor as a team, and its is the 10th year in a row that at least one Michigan man has made the individuals list -- including every year under the current four-year tenure of head coach Jerry Clayton.

Only five institutions nationwide posted more names on this year's individuals list, including just one Big Ten school (Nebraska).

Including the Scholar Athletes of the Year, a total of 511 student-athletes from 155 different institutions earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors for their combined academic and athletic accomplishments. Michigan was one of 142 men's teams around the nation recognized by the USTFCCCA.

To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track and Field Team, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade-point average of 3.25 or better and have met either of the following athletic standards: for the indoor season, a student-athlete must have finished the regular season ranked in the national top 96 in an individual event or ranked in the national top 48 (collective listing) in a relay event on the official NCAA POP list provided by TFRRS.org; for the outdoor season, a student-athlete must have participated in any round of the NCAA Division I Championships (including preliminary rounds).

This is the second national academic honor for both Baumgarten and Sheeran after the pair earned CoSIDA Academic All-District awards earlier this spring.

Sheeran, a graduate student in his only year of eligibility for Michigan, was one of the three Wolverines who ran sub-four-minute miles during the indoor season. Baumgarten, who has now earned USTFCCCA academic honors two years in a row, finished third at 3,000 meters and sixth at 5,000 meters at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.

Mora is now a three-time USTFCCCA academic honoree, the most of any active Wolverine man. Not only was he the another of the three sub-four milers from the indoor season, he was also a double scorer for U-M at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships with sixth-place finishes in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5,000 meters.

With graduate transfer Willig also earning the award, all three of the sub-four milers earned USTFCCCA academic honors. Willig was the fastest of the group, advancing to the NCAA Championships to earn second-team All-America plaudits indoors. Outdoors, he scored points at the Big Ten Championships at both 800 and 1,500 meters.

Already a standout in competition with All-America honors two years in a row, McLaughlin earned his first USTFCCCA academic honor. He was a second-team All-American outdoors in the 400-meter hurdles and a three-time Big Ten scorer.

For the second year in a row, distance runners Beller, Flanagan and Munley all performed well enough in both competition and the classroom to earn USTFCCCA plaudits.

Munley was a two-time scorer in Big Ten competition, taking fifth indoors and eighth outdoors over 800 meters. Flanagan competed in just four meets during the 2017 season, headlined by an eighth-place showing over 10,000 meters at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships in his outdoor season debut. Beller's season was headlined by a 10th-place finish at the Big Ten Indoor Championships over 5,000 meters.