MIAC Release

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Twenty Saint John's University cross country student-athletes earned 2022 Academic All-MIAC honors on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

Those honored (listed alphabetically) include:

-Junior Tommy Allen (Woodbury, Minn./St. Paul Academy), a biochemistry major (pre-medicine emphasis) with a 4.0 GPA; 
-Senior Riley Berg (Bemidji, Minn.), a biology major with a 3.82 GPA; 
-Sophomore Eamon Cavanaugh (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest), a social science (secondary education) major with a 3.88 GPA;
-Sophomore Nate Courchane (Minneapolis, Minn./Park Center), a computer science major with a 3.96 GPA;
-Senior Dillon Diekmann (Lake Elmo, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall), an accounting major with a 3.94 GPA; 
-Junior Jacob Gathje (Omaha, Neb./Mount Michael Benedictine), a mathematics major with a 4.0 GPA; 
-Sophomore Joe Gathje (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson), an economics major with a 4.0 GPA;
-Senior Mitch Grand (Hutchinson, Minn.), an accounting major with a 3.54 GPA; 
-Junior Carter Grove (Osakis, Minn.), a computer science major with a 4.0 GPA; 
-Senior Alexei Hensel (Buffalo, Minn.), an environmental studies major with a 3.56 GPA; 
-Senior Danny Kloeppner (Dayton, Minn./Champlin Park), a political science major with a 3.50 GPA;
-Senior Jacob Lipke (Stewart, Minn./Hutchinson), a mathematics major with a 3.96 GPA; 
-Senior Will Mattock (Maryville, Mo.), a biochemistry major with a 3.80 GPA;
-Senior Nico Merickel (Phoenix, Ariz./Pinnacle), an economics major with a 3.88 GPA; 
-Senior Tom Nemanich (Red Wing, Minn.), a philosophy and psychology double-major with a 3.70 GPA; 
-Sophomore Sam Rabaey (Hastings, Minn.), a physics major with a 3.95 GPA;
-Senior Sam Rengo (Esko, Minn.), a political science major with a 3.57 GPA;
-Sophomore Liam Sheeley (Edina, Minn./Holy Angels), an exercise and health science major with a 3.54 GPA;
-Sophomore Aidan Thomas (Blaine, Minn./Totino-Grace), a computer science and mathematics double-major with a 4.0 GPA;
-Junior Lloyd Young (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy), an accounting major with a 3.92 GPA.

In order to qualify for MIAC Academic All-Conference recognition, student-athletes must be a sophomore, junior or senior with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Transfers must have completed one academic year (full-time) at the institution prior to becoming eligible the following year.

Athletically, student-athletes must be a member of a MIAC-sponsored varsity team, utilize a season of participation (per NCAA and MIAC definitions) and have remained on the sports roster through the conclusion of the sport's season. The MIAC moved away from athletic-specific requirements (i.e. participate in 50 percent of the games, finish in the top 100 at the MIAC Championships, etc.) beginning with the 2021-22 academic year.

For the fifth time in the last eight academic years (and the third consecutive), SJU led the MIAC in male honorees.

The Academic All-MIAC honor is the third consecutive in cross country for eight of the 20 Johnnies – Berg, Diekmann, Grand, Hensel, Lipke, Merickel, Nemanich and Young – and the second for Allen, Jacob Gathje, Grove and Rengo. 

Young (fourth), Diekmann (11th), Grove (13th) and Allen (14th) earned All-MIAC honors (top 15) out of 169 runners Oct. 29 at the MIAC Championships and Young finished 10th to collect his second-consecutive All-Region distinction (top 35) two weeks later at the NCAA North Regional. Young earned All-America honors, the 25th in program history and the Johnnies' first since Chris Erichsen '08 in 2007 (third place), by placing 40th out of 294 runners Nov. 19 at the NCAA Division III Championships in East Lansing, Mich.

As a team, SJU finished second out of 11 teams at the MIAC Championship and seventh out of 28 teams at the NCAA Regional.