AUSTIN, Texas -- Methodist women's cross country and track & field athlete Lindsey Pritchard was named a Google Cloud Third Team Academic All-American as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Tuesday.
 
Pritchard, who was eligible for Academic All-America® honors by virtue of her First Team Academic All-District selection, becomes the Monarchs' 12th Academic All-American, and first since Kristyn Zeiler was a second team pick in 2011.
 
A junior from Strongsville, Ohio, Pritchard was the individual champion at the 2017 USA South Cross Country Championships last fall. In her first season competing in cross country, Pritchard recorded three top-five finishes prior the USA South Conference Championships, and she set a new MU record on a 6k course with a time of 22:48.7. She placed 34th at the NCAA South/Southeast Regional meet to garner NCAA All-Region honors.
 
On the track, she was a member of the record-setting DMR team during the indoor season, helping the squad to a time of 13:34.63 at the Bast-Cregger Invitational to open the indoor campaign. She then set the school record in the 800m during the outdoor season, posting a time of 2:23.67 in winning the Atlantic Independent Track & Field Championship. At the championships, she posted an additional three top-five finishes, taking third in the 1500m (5:08.54), and fourth in the 5000m (19:25.02) and the javelin (22.88m).
 
The Methodist Female Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2016 and 2017, Pritchard boasts a perfect 4.0 GPA with majors in environmental & occupational management and Spanish. She is a three-time Academic All-Conference selection and a three-time Methodist Scholar Athlete.
 
Tobais Muellers of Williams College and Taryn Cordani of Ithaca College were selected as the 2017-18 Google Cloud Men's and Women's Cross Country/Track & Field Academic All-Americans of the Year. Among the 45 student-athletes on the Division III Academic All-America® Men's Cross Country/Track & Field teams, 11 men carry a GPA of 4.0 or better. There are 20 members of the 48 honored on this year's Academic All-America® Women's Cross Country/Track & Field teams with a perfect GPA of 4.0. The members of the men's first team carry an average G.P.A. of 3.86, while the 17 members of the women's team carry an average GPA of 3.91.
 
The Division III Google Cloud Academic All-America® program is financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2017-18 Division III Academic All-America® teams.