2015 Capital One Women's Cross Country/Track & Field Academic All-District Release

MORROW, Ga. – Tremendous performances both in the classroom and on the playing surface have earned Clayton State graduate student Maia Kuhnen (Trier, Germany) considerable recognition as she has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team for cross country and track & field as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Friday, May 22, 2015.

With her selection, she is just the second student-athlete to earn the distinction in the history of the women's cross country/track & field programs. She joins Joni Guffey, the program's first ever All-American and one of the greatest runners in Laker history, as the only other such honoree. Guffey was named to the Verizon Academic All-District III Team following the 2002 campaign.

"This is a nice honor to cap a productive track season for Maia," said head track & field coach Mike Mead. "She has been a strong leader in the classroom and on the track."

A four-sport student-athlete in cross country, soccer and indoor and outdoor track & field, Kuhnen has earned her undergraduate degree and is currently enrolled in Master's level courses in Psychology and Human Services.

During the fall she appeared in five games, starting one, for Clayton State's nationally ranked women's soccer team and redshirted in cross country. She would hit her stride as indoor and outdoor track season came around.

The indoor campaign would see her notch four top two finishes, including winning the distance medley relay and placing second in the mile at the Birmingham Southern Icebreaker. Kuhnen would also win the 800-meters at the UCS Invitational and finish second in that event at Emory.

The outdoor season would be even more impressive as she delivered a total of six top five outings. Highlighting those were wins in the 4x800-meters at the Cougar Open (2/28) and 4x400-meter relay at the Emory Invitational (3/20). She also had a runner-up finish in the 1,500-meters at the Cougar Open, which served as the first meet of the outdoor season.

She would add a fifth place finish in the 1,500-meters at the Emory Classic (3/27) before two impressive performances at the 2015 Peach Belt Conference Championships. The first of those would be a fourth place outing in the 4x400-meters and would be followed by a time of 2:15.18 in the 800-meters. That mark was not only good for fourth place, it surpassed the previous PBC record for that event.

On the year, she set personal best times in the 800-meters (2:15.18) and 1,500-meters (4:49.40) for the outdoor season and topped her mile time at 5:13.47 during indoor. These performances helped her earn a total of three United States Track & Field and Cross Country (USTFCCCA) All-Southeast Region honors. In indoor, she was All-Region in the 800-meters and the mile while duplicating the effort in the 800 during outdoor.

Far from limited to success in her chosen athletic arenas, Kuhnen has succeeded in the classroom as well. She has achieved a 3.66 cumulative grade point average and been named to the All-Peach Belt Conference Academic Team in outdoor track & field. Additionally, she has been selected as one of just 200 student-athletes, out of the 460,000 that competed this year, to attend the prestigious NCAA Career in Sports Forum in early June. She has also recently been elected as the new Vice President for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

"What a tremendous honor," said Tim Duncan, Director of Athletics. "Maia epitomizes what it means to be a student-athlete, having achieved success in four sports, all the while earning her undergraduate degree in three years. Next spring, she will complete her eligibility by having earned her master's degree. She is very deserving of this recognition and truly represents what it means to be a Clayton State student-athlete."

With her selection to an All-District team, Kuhnen is now eligible for Academic All-American consideration. She will strive to become just the second CoSIDA Academic All-American in program history, joining men's track & field's Robert Spezzacatena, who achieved the feat as a Third-Team selection in 2012. Division II's winners will be announced on June 24.

ABOUT THE CAPITAL ONE ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA PROGRAM
The 2015 Capital One Academic All-District At-Large Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, have been released to recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. Capital One has been the entitlement rights holder to CoSIDA's Academic All-America teams programs since 2011.
 
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
 
2015 Capital One Academic Women's All-District Teams (Division II District 3)