OC’s Lutterloh named First Team Academic All-America

OC Sports
Murray Evans, Sports Information Director

AUSTIN, Texas – Ryan Lutterloh continued a proud Oklahoma Christian tradition on Thursday when he was named to the Academic All-America first-team list for NCAA Division II track and field/cross country by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

It was the second straight year in which Lutterloh, a senior from Puyallup, Wash., received Academic All-America honors, as he was named to the second-team list in 2016. He is the eighth OC track and field student-athlete to be a two-time Academic All-American and the 15th person in OC athletic history to make the first-team list.

The CoSIDA Academic All-America awards are considered among the most prestigious in collegiate athletics, recognizing student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. To qualify for the honor, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.3 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, have reached sophomore status athletically, have legitimate athletic credentials and have been at the nominating institution at least one calendar year.

Twenty-three of the 45 members of the 2016-17 CoSIDA Academic All-America Division II Men’s Track and Field/Cross Country teams have at least a 3.9 GPA, with six student-athletes – including Lutterloh – maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA. The 15 members of the first team have an average GPA of 3.88.

“Ryan is a very committed student athlete and works hard to excel in his academics and in competition,” OC track and field coach Wade Miller said. “It is quite an accomplishment for Ryan to receive this award for the second time in his career when the standards for recognition are so high and so few are chosen. Ryan is a fantastic representative of our program and Oklahoma Christian.”

Although separate sports, cross country and track and field are grouped into one category for the CoSIDA honor teams. Lutterloh ran primarily in 400-meter and 800-meter individual races as well as on OC’s 4×400-meter relay team.

Lutterloh graduated from OC summa cum laude in April with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering, one of only nine spring 2017 graduates to post a 4.0 GPA. A four-time National Christian College Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete, Lutterloh also soon will be a three-time recipient of the Division II Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award.

He also soon will be a two-time winner of a two-time recipient of the Great American Conference Academic All-Conference award for track and field. In 2016, Lutterloh was named as an All-Academic individual for outdoor track by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, in addition to his CoSIDA Academic All-America honor. He should receive the USTFCCCA award again in 2017.

On the track, he helped OC’s indoor 4×400-meter relay team post a Division II provisional qualifying time and ran a career-best outdoor 400 time of 49.12 seconds at the Tulsa Duels before an injury curtailed his season.

In 2016, he earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors in indoor track as a member of the 4×400 relay team that broke a 50-year-old school record (3:14.54) and posted a Division II provisional qualifying time.

During the 2016 outdoor season, Lutterloh earned All-GAC honors in the 800 meters (third in 1:54.68) and 4×400 relay (second in 3:15.24). As a freshman, he was on the OC team that won 2013 NCCAA indoor distance medley relay title in a meet-record time of 10:15.92.

Lutterloh is the second OC student-athlete to be named as an Academic All-American for the 2016-17 academic year, joining men’s basketball player John Moon, who earned his second straight first-team selection earlier this year.

Eight OC student-athletes have received Academic All-America honors since the university began the NCAA Division II membership process in fall 2012, including six from track/cross country – Brayden Barrientez (2013), David McWilliams (2013), Tracy Marshall (2013), Bryant Keirns (2015, 2016), Brennym Kaelin (2016) and Lutterloh. Barrientez, McWilliams, Marshall and Keirns all were first-team selections, while Kaelin was a third-team pick.

The other two OC Division II Academic All-Americans were Moon and men’s soccer standout Matt McLain, a third-team selection after the 2013 season.

The previous 14 OC student-athletes who earned Academic All-America first-team honors include Barrientez, McWilliams and Marshall (all three in both 2012 and 2013); Keirns; Moon; Kim Golden (women’s basketball, 1991); Luke Anderson (men’s track, 2000 and 2001); Gabriela Lancman (women’s tennis, 2001); Blake Blackwell (men’s cross country, 2002, and men’s track, 2003); Kristin Brown (women’s soccer, 2006 and 2007); Adam Barnes (men’s soccer, 2007); Katy Clift (women’s basketball, 2012); Renardy Guelfi (men’s tennis, 2012); and Martin Poboril (men’s tennis, 2012).

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