St. Peter, Minn. – The 2013-14 Capital Once Academic All-District Men’s and Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country 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. Among the list of male and female individuals from District 6 receiving CoSIDA Acadmic All-District honors are a pair Gustavus Adolphus student-athletes – senior multi-event athlete Cameron Clause (Mankato, Minn.) and senior cross country and track & field runner Rebecca Hare (Albany, Minn.).
Capital One has been the entitlement rights holder to CoSIDA’s Academic All-America teams programs since 2011. The Academic All-District teams include the student-athletes listed on the following pages and are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the second year of the expanded Academic All-America program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-America Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.
Taking home Capital One Academic All-District honors for the first time in his career is Cameron Clause. In his final season as a member of the track and field team, Clause solidified his place as the best multi-event athlete in the history of the program. He won the heptathlon at the MIAC Indoor Championships with a conference and school record point total of 5,088. His performance broke the previous MIAC record of 4,881 held by Saint Mary’s Rob Friendt (2005), and the previous school record of 4,912, which he set during his junior season. For his performances at the MIAC Indoor Championships, he was named the Most Outstanding Field Athlete and took home the honor for Most Outstanding Performance of the Meet (heptathlon).
Clause earned a trip to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships where he scored a 5,065 heptathlon, taking fourth overall and earning the second All-America honor of his career. With the fifth place finish in the heptathlon at the NCAA Championships last season, Clause becomes just the third Gustie to garner All-America honors multiple times. Luke Speltz earned All-America distinction in the weight throw twice (4th-2002, 2nd-2003) and shot put (2nd-2003), and Brett Gross achieved a top eight standing twice in the shot put (6th-1995, 6th-1996).
The local Mankato product then followed up his indoor season by breaking the school’s decathlon record at the Wartburg Select with a score of 6,491 on April 5 in Waverly, Iowa. His performance that weekend topped Jason Meek’s school record of 6,094 set in 1994. Plagued by injury late in the year, Clause was unable to compete at the MIAC Outdoor Championships. He did however qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships where he went on to finish 17th in the decathlon with a score of 6,335.
Cameron Clause is a chemistry major with a cumulative grade point average of 3.76.
A two-sport athlete who competed in both cross country and track & field, Rebecca Hare also makes her first appearance on the Capital One Academic All-District Team. A staple of Head Coach Dale Bahr’s top cross country lineup, Hare finishes her Gustavus career a two-time All-Conference performer. In 2012, she was the top finisher (4th, 22:29.4) on a Gustavus team that came out of nowhere to win the MIAC Championship. This season, Hare finished second on the team and 13th overall with a time of 23:31.4, taking home All-MIAC accolades for the second time.
Rebecca also excelled at the NCAA Central Region Meet, earning All-Region honors twice. In 2012, she led the team with a 13th place finish with a time of 22:53.5, and in 2013, she once again paced the Gusties with a 22nd place finish in 23:12.99
In track & field, Hare added a pair of indoor All-Conference finishes in 2013 thanks to two gutsy performances in the meet’s two longest races. At the 2013 MIAC Indoor Championships held in Northfield, Minnesota, she finished runner-up in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:25.30 and third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:17.63.
Rebecca Hare is an English major with a cumulative grade point average of 3.93.
On the men’s side, Clause is one of four student-athletes from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to achieve Capital One Academic All-District status. Joining him is Thomas Feichtinger of Saint John’s, Mark Volker of Hamline, and Joe Wistrcill of St. Thomas. On the women’s side, Hare is one of three MIAC student-athletes. She is joined by Lauren Rice of Augsburg, and Erin Statz of St. Thomas.
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. 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.
First-team Academic All-District honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.