NEW ORLEANS — The Saint Mary's men's and women's track teams were once again honored as All-Academic Teams by the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association in the organization' annual academic awards release Thursday.
 
The Saint Mary's women led the way with a 3.50 cumulative Grade Point Average. That ranked tied for 47th-best among the 220 women's teams that received All-Academic Team accolades (minimum 3.00 team cumulative GPA). The men posted a 3.21 GPA, ranking them among the top-65 teams out of the 141 men's programs that earned the honor.
 
Now-graduated senior Noah McDermott was the top student-athlete for the Gaels both in the classroom and on the track this past spring. While he was posting a 3.79 GPA in Kinesiology: Sports Management, he was also busy becoming the third Saint Mary's runner ever to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor West Preliminary Meet. His school-record 3,000-meter steeplechase time of 8 minutes, 58.27 seconds from April was 50th in the region, but he got into the meet as the 48th runner in a field of 48 and would finish 16 places higher, breaking nine minutes again to finish 32nd in the West.

"We are very proud to have student-athletes who excel in the classroom and out on the track," said Saint Mary's head coach Marty Kinsey. "This year we had another qualifier into the NCAA Prelims and at the same time earned two of our highest GPAs. The fact is, people come to Saint Mary's to become doctors, lawyers, teachers, business owners and so on. We will continue our efforts to be supporting members of this awesome Gael community. This is yet another great moment, from so many, that these teams have produced over the years. Go Gaels!"
 
The women also had plenty of record-breaking performances in the spring. Freshman Abigayle Mitchell set new school records a total of four times across three different events. She broke the program record in the 800 on three different occasions, ending the year with a season- and personal-best 2:13.78 at the Portland Twilight Meet.