*Courtesy of Air Force Athletics*
AUSTIN, Texas – Air Force junior Katie Thompson was named an Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators this afternoon (June 28). It is the first CSC honor for Thompson, who claimed third-team status on the 2023 Academic All-America Division I Women’s Track & Field / Cross Country Team.
Thompson, a biochemistry major who maintained a 3.79 GPA through the nomination period and finished her junior year with a 3.81 average, became the first Air Force female to surpass 19 feet in the outdoor long jump during an Academy Record performance of 19’1½” at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate this past April. In addition to also holding the program’s indoor (20’3″ in 2022) and all-condition (19’3½” in 2023) records, Thompson is also ranked among the program’s all-time standings in the 60-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 60-meter hurdles
Sixteen Falcons have been selected as CSC/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans a total of 20 times, as Thompson joined Mary Manning (1984-1985), Chris Nelson (1991-1992), Nick Wilson (2006), Kenny Grosselin (2008), Brittany Morreale (2010), Matthew Bell (2013), Jeremy Drenckhahn (2013), Rebecca Esselstein (2013, 2014, 2015), Josh Nielsen (2014), Taylor Smith (2016), Katie Burnham (2018), Lindsey Blanks (2020), Mitch Lipe (2020) and Greg Skage (2021), and Sean Geither (2022) on the prestigious list.
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, student-athlete must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher on a scale of 4.00 and be a significant contributor on their team. These student-athletes, nominated by their sports information director, are named Academic All-District and advance to the national ballot, where CSC members vote on the Academic All-America teams within their division.
