AUSTIN, Texas – IUP senior
Alex Hampel (Middletown, Del./Salesianum) has been named the 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-America® of the Year for Division II Men's Track & Field/Cross Country, which was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America and released on Thursday.
Hampel graduated this past May with a 3.98 cumulative grade point average as a double major in both nursing and biology. It's the second straight year that he has earned CoSIDA Academic All-America® honors, landing on the track & field/cross country second team in 2014-15.
This is just the third time in school history that an IUP student-athlete has been named an Academic All-America® of the Year for a sport, as Hampel joins Laura Hall, who was the College Division winner for women's volleyball in 2001 and 2002.
Hampel now joins a list of 11 other student-athletes who will vie to become the overall Division II Academic All-America® of the Year. That will be announced later this summer.
This is an award that is truly earned by Hampel, who has a long list of both athletic and academic honors during his time at IUP.
In addition to his two career Academic All-America® selections, Hampel was also an Elite 90™ recipient for NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country this past fall. That award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships.
Hampel is also a three-time Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Champion Scholar – the conference's equivalent to the Elite 90™ – earning it twice in cross country (2014 and 2015) and once in outdoor track & field (2014).
He's a two-time PSAC Top 10 honoree, receiving the award in the fall of 2015 and the spring of 2016, and was also named the 2014-15 IUP Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Hampel has also been nominated for the PSAC's Pete Nevins Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, which is chosen by the league's sports information directors and is given to two student-athletes (one male, one female) who have achieved the most athletically and academically during the year.
Athletically, Hampel earned All-PSAC and All-Atlantic Region honors during the cross country season, and also earned an individual bid to compete in the 2015 NCAA Division II Championships. He finished his career as a two-time all-region and all-conference cross country performer.
He was also an all-region runner in outdoor track & field, ranking as one of the best 10,000 meter runners in the Atlantic. His personal best of 30:29.19 in the event was an NCAA provisional time that ranked 41st in the country. Hampel finished in fifth place in the 10K at the PSAC Championships in May.
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 2015-16 Division II Academic All-America® teams program.
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP track & field on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPtrackNfield.
