STANFORD, Calif. -- Five Stanford athletes were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America team for track and field, and cross country.
All five received All-America honors on the track this season – led by Sean McGorty and Elise Cranny, who each finished second at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships earlier this month in Eugene, Oregon. Each was honored for their combination of athletic and academic accomplishments and is receiving Academic All-America honors for the first time.
McGorty and Justin Brinkley were named to the men's second team, and decathlete Harrison Williams was named to the third team. Elise Cranny and Kristyn Williams received women's third-team honors.
The achievement was the latest on an impressive list for Brinkley, a middle-distance runner who carried a 3.82 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) through the winter quarter while majoring in communication with a minor in religious studies. On the track, Brinkley was fourth in the 1,500 at the Pac-12 Championships and helped the Cardinal distance medley relay team to fourth at NCAA Indoors. However, he also earned the Pac-12 Men's Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the Pac-12 Leadership Award, an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, and Pac-12 All-Academic first team and MPSF All-Academic honors. Brinkley, who graduated on June 13, is applying for Rhodes and Marshall scholarships with the aim of earning a master's of philosophy in theology and religious studies, with an emphasis on the New Testament.
McGorty, a junior academically, but a sophomore in track eligibility, earned a 3.47 GPA as a management science and engineering major. McGorty ran the fourth-fastest indoor mile (any-sized track) in collegiate history, a school-record 3.53.95, and became 10th-fastest American collegian ever at 5,000 meters with a 13:24.25 at the Payton Jordan Invitational. McGorty was the NCAA runner-up indoors at 3,000 and outdoors at 5,000, and anchored the Cardinal DMR. McGorty will run the 5,000 at the Olympic Trials next week.
Williams is a sophomore who carries a 3.39 GPA. He had the highest fifth-place score ever in the NCAA Championships decathlon, a school-record 8,032 points. It marked the fourth time Williams broke the Stanford decathlon record. He also has broken the indoor heptathlon record twice, including with an NCAA Indoor fourth-place 5,937. He will compete in the Olympic Trials.
Cranny is a sophomore with a 3.92 GPA. She closed the 1,500 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a furious kick that earned her second place, only 0.004 behind the winner. Her time of 4:09.54 in that race broke a school record and earned her passage to the Olympic Trials.
Williams earned her degree in human biology and carried a 3.60 GPA. Williams earned All-America honors in the DMR, helping the Cardinal to third at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She also ran on Stanford's school indoor record 4x400 relay team, and helped the Cardinal advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the same event. Williams was a two-time Pac-12 finalist in the 400 and the 2016 MPSF indoor runner-up.
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CoSIDA Academic All-America team
Division I Track and Field/Cross Country
Men
Second team
Justin Brinkley, Sr., Kingwood, Texas, 3.82, communication
Sean McGorty, Jr., Fairfax, Va., 3.47, management science and engineering
Third team
Harrison Williams, So., Memphis, Tenn., 3.39, undeclared
Women
Third team
Elise Cranny, So., Longmont, Colo., 3.92, undeclared
Kristyn Williams, Sr., Grand Prairie, Texas, 3.60, human biology