Lamar sports information

FRISCO — Cementing his Cardinal legacy even more, Lamar’s Jamie Crowe was named the Southland Conference Men’s Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Year, as announced by the league office on Wednesday. The senior from Glasglow, Scotland, was joined on the SLC All-Academic team by Matthew Arnold, Katie Buckley, and Katy Whiteoak.

Crowe was named the SLC Men’s Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Year after finishing the semester with a 3.83 GPA in his graduate studies in kinesiology. He also won the SLC Championships individual title in early November, defending his 2017 crown, and went on to become the first LU runner ever to win an NCAA South Central Regional Cross Country Championship. He and Jordan Rowe traveled to the NCAA National Championships, the first student-athletes from any Southland Conference member institution to compete on the national stage since 2015.

Arnold joined Crowe on the SLC All-Academic team after several terrific showings in the 2018 season. He ran in four races with a Top 10 finish at the SLC Championship (seventh, 27:06.8) and a Top 60 finish at the NCAA South Central Regional (57th, 33:36.1). Arnold accumulated a 3.50 GPA in his graduate studies, also in kinesiology.

Buckley was an automatic selection to the women’s cross country SLC All-Academic team after being named to the All-Southland Conference First Team. She came in third at the SLC Championships with a time of 23:00.9 in the 6,000 meters, then raced a 21:54.6 in the NCAA South Central Regional to finish 35th. Also a graduate student majoring in kinesiology, Buckley finished the semester with a 3.83 GPA.

The final Cardinal member of the SLC All-Academic team is Whiteoak, who finished 12th at the SLC Championships with a time of 23:53.8, helping Lamar finish second at the championships as a team. A sophomore biology major, Whiteoak was one of just six student-athletes on the SLC All-Academic team to finish with a perfect 4.00 GPA.

Southland Conference All-Academic Teams are voted upon by a head coach, sports information director and academic/compliance staff member from each school. Student-Athletes of the Year are voted upon by an awards committee which consists of one administrator from each member school. Voting for one’s own athletes is not permitted.

To be eligible for all-academic distinction, an athlete must hold a minimum 3.00 cumulative grade point average through the semester prior to the sport’s championship, completed at least one full academic year at the nominating school prior to the current season, and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competitions during the most recently completed season.

Student-Athlete of the Year nominees must hold at least a 3.20 GPA and have completed at least two years of athletic competition at the nominating school, including the current season.

First Team All-Conference athletes (top five finishers at the Southland Cross Country Championships) who meet all-academic nomination criteria are automatically named First Team All-Academic.