Three Ivies Earn Capital One Cross Country and Track & Field Academic All-America Honors

Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America Track & Field/Cross Country Teams

Portions of this story courtesy of Brown Sports Information and Cornell and Princeton Athletic Communications

PRINCETON, N.J. -- After a vote by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), three Ivy League track & field/cross country athletes were selected to the Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America Track & Field/Cross Country Teams, the organization announced Thursday.

On the men’s side, Brown senior Dan Lowery earned second team honors, while Cornell senior Nick Huber was named to the third team. Princeton senior Alex Banfich was the lone recipient on the women’s side as she received second team accolades.

Lowry, an All-American in both cross country and track & field, most recently placed 11th in the 5,000m at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He earned Academic All-Ivy honors in both the fall and spring, and was a second-team All-Ivy honoree in the 5,000m. A Geology-Biology concentrator, Lowry holds the Brown school record in the 5,000m and was named the Brown University Male Student-Athlete of the Year. He also earned first-team All-Ivy honors in cross country and was an All-Northeast Region selection.

Lowry qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in the 5,000m by running 13:34.49 at the Stanford Invitational in April. He will be competing on Monday, June 25 at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field.

After finishing his Cornell athletic career earlier in the month with a terrific decathlon performance in the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Huber received more good news Thursday afternoon with his Capital One Academic All-America honor. Huber, who holds Big Red records in the pentathlon, heptathlon and decathlon, posted a 3.42 grade point average while graduating with a degree in Industrial and Labor Relations. He finished the NCAA decathlon in 11th-place to earn second-team All-America accolades, nearly equaling his personal- and school-best 7,632 points.
 
His points record this year also earned him the Provisional “B” Standard in the decathlon, which could put him in the field for the 2012 Olympic Trials starting Friday.

Banfich is the first Princeton track and field athlete to earn Academic All-American honors since Megan Brandeland was named third-team in 2009.

A four-time All-America, Banfich earned Princeton's von Kienbusch Award for the school's most outstanding senior female student-athlete. She placed fifth at the 2011 NCAA Cross Country Championship, the highest finish by a Tigers at the NCAAs in program history. A captain of both squads, Banfich has earned two All-America honors in cross country and two in track. During her career she competed in six NCAA Championships and was a first-team All-Ivy League selection four times, while also winning the individual title at the 2010 Ivy League cross country championship. Banfich has helped to guide Princeton to six Ivy League team titles including a triple crown in 2010-11. A native of Plymouth, Ind., Banfich graduated in May with a degree in history.

The 2012 Capital One Academic All-America Teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00 and have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at their current institution.