With the conclusion of the 2013 Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the league has announced its Outdoor Track and Field Academic All-League Teams as voted on by the institutions’ faculty athletics representatives and sports information directors. NDSU led all Summit League schools with eight combined selections.
NDSU recorded a league-high four selections on the men’s team. Alec Espeland, a microbiology major with a 3.856 grade-point average, posted the league's fastest 800-meter time this season at 1:50.48 and finished second at the league championships in the 800 meters in 1:52.05. He also ran on NDSU's third-place 4x400 meter relay at the conference meet.
Andy Lillejord is a zoology major with a 3.345 GPA who led the league and ranked 25th in the nation in the decathlon with 7,397 points. He was also third in the league in the 400 meters, fourth in the pole vault, tied for sixth in the long jump, and eighth in the javelin.
Casey Orgon is a mechanical engineering major with a 3.424 GPA and is 18th in the nation in the hammer throw. He won his third straight hammer throw title at the league championships and tallied a league-high four Athlete of the Week honors this season.
Matt Tetzlaff, an exercise science major with a 3.50 GPA, captured his third consecutive league title in the 110-meter hurdles and finished runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles.
NDSU led the way on the women’s side with a league-best four honorees. Leslie Brost, an exercise science major with a 3.78 GPA, claimed a league-best three Athlete of the Week selections and won her fourth league title in the pole vault. She is tied for 12th in the nation.
Katie Johnson holds a 3.98 GPA in public relations and advertising and finished fourth in the shot put, fifth in the hammer throw and seventh in the discus at the league championships. She ranks third in NDSU history in the shot put and fourth in the hammer throw.
Maddie McClellan, an English education major with a 4.0 GPA, recorded a trio of top-six finishes at the championships -- runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, third in the 1,500 meters and sixth in the 5,000 meters. She holds the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and will compete in the event at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds.
Brittany Page also holds a 4.0 GPA as an exercise science major and took third in the 400 meters and fifth in the 200 meters at the Summit League Championships. She ran on school record-setting 4x100-, 4x200- and 1600-meter sprint medley relay teams in 2013, in addition to ranking seventh in NDSU history in the 200- and 400-meter dashes.
Johnson and Page also were named to the Academic All-League Team for the 2013 indoor season.
To be eligible for the Academic All-League team, a student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.30 on a 4.0 scale, completed at least one full academic year at the current institution and participated in 50 percent of their team's competitions. The outdoor track and field academic all-league teams are made up of the 10 student-athletes receiving the most votes with all ties standing.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.