AUSTIN, Texas - After finishing the school year with a 4.0 GPA, Marlee Baker was selected as a CoSIDA Third-Team Academic All-American on Wednesday, Aug. 11.
This is the fourth straight year that the Eagles track & field squad have had a member named to the CoSIDA All-Academic team. Baker is the first women's track & field member to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-American since Bekah White in 2019.
"It means a lot," says Baker. "It's nice that people don't look at us just as athletes but as people and how we succeed off the field."
On the track, Baker built off her momentum from her stellar 2020 indoor campaign, recording three top-10 finishes in the pole vault during the 2021 outdoor season. The junior finished fourth at the 2021 SAC Outdoor Championships in the pole vault with a clearance of 2.92 meters.
In the classroom, Baker finished her sophomore year at Carson-Newman with a 4.0 GPA while pursuing her undergraduate degree in psychology. Baker was one of a record-setting 10 Carson-Newman track & field athletes to be named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team.
The Eagle women's track & field squad was named as a USTFCCCA All-Academic team for the seventh straight year. Baker was one of six members of the convocation to finish the year with a 4.0 GPA. The team finished the year with a cumulative 3.42 GPA and 22 athletes finished with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
"It was tough having to adapt to the new online classes and going hybrid at times last year," says Baker. "We also had to deal with losing meets and it was tough but rewarding. I'm really proud of us. Some of the smartest and most athletic people I know are on this team. And I'm thankful for my coaches because they preach that our academics come before our athletics."
Baker is one of just 13 women's track & field athletes named CoSIDA Academic All-American to record a 4.0 GPA. Of those 13 athletes, just 10 of them are undergraduate students at their respective universities. She is also one of just two sophomores to be represented on the entire All-Academic team.
Baker was also one of just three SAC athletes named to the All-Academic team. Elise Ulseth of Queens was named to the second-team while Kylie Dahlberg of Lenoir-Rhyne joins Baker on the third-team.
Ida Narbuvall of the University of Mary was named CoSIDA Women's All-Academic Member of the Year while Trevor Bassitt was named the All-Academic Member of the Year on the men's side.