CoSIDA lauds Agee with first-team Academic All-American honors

CoSIDA lauds Agee with first-team Academic All-American honors

2020 CoSIDA Academic All-American Teams

INDIANAPOLIS – Caleb Agee joined elite company with his second-career College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Track and Field Academic All-American plaudit taking home first-team honors Wednesday.

"I would like to thank my family for their support through these last four years," Agee said. "Any success is the product of dedicated coaches, teammates and professors who helped me achieve on the track and in the classroom. Most importantly, I would like to thank an unwavering commitment from Christ who supported me and lifted me the whole year. I hope any success is seen as a reflection of him."

The Floyd, Va. native brings the track program's all-time Academic All-American count to nine as he joins Tanner Stepp (2017 and 2018) and Rebekah White (2018 and 2019) as the only multi-time honorees. Agee is the fourth track athlete to be a first-team selection joining Amy Cate (2005), Randall Freeman (2015) and Tanner Stepp (2018).

Overall, Carson-Newman has produced 51 overall Academic All-Americans since softball's Brandi Hardin became the school's first winner in 1992. Agee is the 24th first-team selection and the 14th individual to be a two-time Academic All-American.

Since 2015, 34 Eagles have been selected. Agee is the ninth to earn the plaudit during the 2019-20 academic calendar joining football's Antonio Wimbush, women's soccer's Lira Mathes and women's basketball's Kayla Marosites, baseball's Tyler Thompson, softball's Abby Fiessinger and KaraLynne Levi and the swimming combination of Paden Duke and Mary Northcutt.

"Caleb is a true representation of what it means to be a Carson-Newman student-athlete. He is dedicated to his faith, his education, his sport and his teammates. He is a leader who sets the example of a champion through hard work and consistency. We are so proud of Caleb."

With a 3.96 GPA in biology, the three-time South Atlantic Conference champion has a laundry list of academic honors. The senior won the 2019 and 2020 SAC Men's Track Scholar Athlete of the Year award, the first male in the seven-year history of the award to do so. The laurel is presented annually to one student-athlete in each of the league's championship sports and is voted on by the SAC's Faculty Athletic Representatives Committee. The winners are selected based on their achievements in academics, athletics, service and leadership.

Agee earned the SAC's Elite 20 award on April 30, 2020 awarded by the league for outstanding work not only in the field of competition, but also in the classroom around the community. It is modeled after the NCAA's Elite 90 award as the league offers the award to the top cumulative GPA on a minimum of 48 credit hours to an individual competing in the league's 20 championships. This season is the fourth year of the honor.

He was the first Carson-Newman male track and field athlete to win the honor while the program has seen a pair of women earn the honor. White won in 2018 and Tori Gaul captured the title in 2017, the first season it was handed out.

Agee has been on the Carson-Newman Dean's List for four years, is a three-time SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll selection and was a Gold Scholar Eagle for the last three years.

On the track, Agee won the 400 meter hurdles in each of his three campaigns during the SAC Outdoor Championships holding the conference record for the event with a time of 53.78 in 2018. He earned USTFCCCA All-Region nods in each of those three seasons.

During the 2019-20 indoor track season, Agee finished in the top 10 of various events seven times taking home top 10 finishes in all three events, 400, 4x400 and Distance Medley Relay at the 2020 SAC Indoor Track Championships.

Off the playing surface, Agee participated in Operation Inasmuch, "a national nonprofit that employs proven models to motivate, train, and equip churches to move more congregants out of the sanctuary seats and into the streets to serve the neediest in their communities.

To sum up his career honors, he is a two-time SAC Scholar Athlete, two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American, two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District, a three-time SAC Champion and a three-time U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) all-region pick.

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