Lea Strangio of Watertown, Mass., Earns USTFCCCA All-Academic Honors

2017 Aug 1

The WPI men's and women's track & field teams were honored for their work inside the classroom for the 10th consecutive season while 10 student-athletes, including Lea Strangio, were recognized for their academic and athletic achievements by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) during the 2016-17 indoor and/or outdoor campaigns.

The women boasted a 3.5 GPA which was tied for 39th out of 183 teams, while also ranking seventh in New England and third in the NEWMAC. The men weren't that far off with a 3.4 GPA, good for 25th out of 111 squads, as well as fifth in the region and second in the conference.

Rising-senior Lea Strangio led the way with her third nod courtesy of the 23rd fastest indoor 800-meter run time and her 17th-place performance at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. She was joined in the 800 by rookie Sydney Packard, who qualified for both NCAA championships, earned All-America status with a seventh-place effort at the outdoor event. Then-senior Kimberlee Kocienski secured honors in the outdoor 400-meter hurdles with the 26th-ranked time of the season as rising-senior Abby McAdams was 19th in the pentathlon and 42nd in the heptathlon, and rising-sophomore Faye Gauthier was 46th in the hammer throw.

On the men's side, rising-senior Warren Staver collected honors for the second consecutive year, this time with a pair of top 15 times as part of the 4x400-meter relays and a tie for 29th in the outdoor 400-meter dash. Staver and the rest of the 4x400 team earned an invitation to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where they placed 12th. Recent graduates Austin Scott and Nick Dalton turned in the 31st quickest mile and 50th-ranked heptathlon, respectively as rising-senior Aaron Weeks was 25th in the javelin and classmate Brandon Hoghaug tied for 35th in the outdoor high jump.

To qualify for USTFCCCA All-Academic honors, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.30 and must have competed in an NCAA Indoor or Outdoor Championship or finished the regular season ranked in the national top-50 in an individual event or ranked in the national top-35 in a relay event on the official NCAA Descending Order List.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. WPI's talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Projects Program. There are more than 40 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.