AUSTIN, Texas - After both athletes finished the 2021-22 school year with 4.0 GPAs, Marlee Baker and Abby Owens were named CoSIDA Third Team Academic All-Americans on Tuesday, June 21.
The two pole vaulters were voted along with 45 other women's track & field and cross country athletes from across all of NCAA Division-II to the Academic All-American team. Baker earns third team honors for the second year in a row after being voted to the team following the 2020-21 season.
Baker repeats as an Academic All-American after finishing the school year with a 4.0 GPA while studying Psychology. Baker recorded ten top-10 finishes in the pole vault this season, including a fourth place finish at the Tiger Paw Classic. Baker finished fifth at the SAC Outdoor Championships in the event with a clearance of 2.80 meters.
Owens earns her first career Academic All-American honors, dominating off the field as well as on it this season for the Eagles, earning a 4.0 GPA while double majoring in Mathematics and Philosophy. Owens recorded eight top-10 finishes in the pole vault this season, recording event championships at the Lee Invitational and Electric City Invitational.
She ended the indoor season with a second-place finish at the SAC Indoor Championships with a clearance of 3.10 meters. At the SAC Outdoor Championships, Owens won her second straight gold medal with a clearance of 3.45 meters.
Carson-Newman track & field have now had at least one member named a CoSIDA Academic All-American since 2016.
Baker joins Caleb Agee (2019, 2020), Tanner Stepp (2017, 2018) and Rebekah White (2018 and 2019) as the only Carson-Newman track & field athletes to be named to multiple CoSIDA Academic All-American teams. C-N track & field has now earned 12 CoSIDA All-American honors in program history.
Zoe Baker of the Colorado School of Mines earned Division II CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, graduating with a 4.0 GPA while double majoring in computer science and applied mathematics and statistics.
Baker and Owens are two of the twenty-three members of the Academic All-America® Division II women's track & field/cross country teams to boast a perfect 4.0 GPA in their undergraduate work or graduate school. The 15 members of the first team have an average GPA of 3.89, with the entire women's team holding a collective average GPA of 3.88.
The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2021-22 Division II Academic All-America® program.
