An excellent season on the track for the Hillsdale College men's and women's track and field teams was bolstered by a strong showing in the classroom as well in the 2025-26 school year.

Earlier this week, both Chargers teams and 11 male and female athletes were recognized by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association with All-Academic honors, continuing a long tradition among both programs of receiving significant recognition for their academic accomplishments.

In order to receive the Team All-Academic distinction from the USTFCCCA, programs must have an average cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher across all athletes in the program.

The Chargers easily exceeded those thresholds on both sides, with the men posting a 3.43 GPA that ranked them among the top 20 teams in the nation at the NCAA DII level, while the women also made the cut for the award by a significant margin with a 3.37 cumulative GPA.

And individually, the Chargers added several academic awards to the program's best performance on the track in decades, one that included three individual national championships, 11 All-American honors and a G-MAC Championship in outdoor women's track and field.

Many of the athletes who excelled in competition for the Chargers also stood out in the classroom. In order to qualify for All-Academic honors, an athlete must post a 3.25 cumulative GPA and achieve at least one provisional qualifying mark across the 2025-26 indoor and outdoor seasons.

On the men's side, Hillsdale's Ben Haas led the way for the Chargers, capping his career at Hillsdale with his third straight USTFCCCA All-Academic distinction in a campaign that saw him repeat as weight throw national champion and earn three total All-American honors. Fellow senior Ross Kuhn, a second team All-American in the outdoor 1,500m run, earned All-Academic honors for the second straight season, while senior Dimitry Ermakov and freshman Jefferson Regitz each earned All-Academic honors for the first time in their careers.

The women were well represented as well, led by two-time NCAA DII national champion Allison Kuzma, who received All-Academic honors for the second time. Junior thrower Olivia Newsome and sophomore multis athlete Baelyn Zitzmann each earned repeat All-Academic honors as well, while sophomore hurdlers Sarah Chappelle, junior thrower Amelia Lutz, freshman sprinter Anna Roessner and junior thrower Regan Wight all received the distinction for the first time.