RIPON, Wisconsin – After a successful 2023 season on the course and in the classroom, three members of the Ripon men's and women's cross country programs have been named All-Academic athletes by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) as announced by the organization on Thursday.
 
Sam Forstner, Mikayla Flyte and Ali Denamur all received accolades by the USTFCCCA. Additionally, both the entire men's and women's programs were named All-Academic Teams by the USTFCCCA for having team grade-point averages over 3.10. The men's team GPA for the fall 2023 semester was 3.46, while the women's was 3.40.
 
Forstner, a soon-to-be four-time Academic All-Midwest Conference runner and economics and finance major from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, became just the fourth male in Ripon cross country history to be named an All-Midwest Conference performer four times after a second consecutive runner-up finish at the MWC Championships in 2023. Six times he placed inside the top 20 this past season, highlighted by winning both the Tom Barry Invitational on September 2 and the Gene Davis Invite on October 7.
 
Flyte, a soon-to-be three-time Academic All-Midwest Conference athlete and English major from Coloma, Wisconsin, is a three-time All-Midwest Conference runner after a sixth-place finish this past October at the MWC Championships. She had five top-10 finishes and became the fourth female in program history (first since 2012) to compete at the NCAA Championships with her 172nd-place finish at Big Spring High School on November 18.
 
Denamur, a soon-to-be two-time Academic All-Midwest Conference athlete and history and anthropology major from Elcho, Wisconsin, was the Midwest Conference runner-up at the MWC Championships in October to earn her second consecutive All-Midwest Conference accolade. Four times in 2023 did she finish inside the top-five finishers at a meet.
 
To be named an All-Academic athlete, runners must have a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or greater while also having a) placed in the top 50% of finishers at the National Cross Country Championship, b) placed in the top 25% of starters at respective Regional Cross Country Championship, and/or c) been named All-Region (Top 35 at respective region).
 
The 2024 cross country schedules for both programs will be announced at a later date.
 
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