Seven Ephs earn All-Academic Honors from USTFCCCA
NEW ORLEANS, LA -- Connor Kamm (Salt Lake City, UT) showed that if you just keep plugging away and you return to health you can do great things – like win the 5K at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Though he was plagued by injuries in his time at Williams Kamm never stopped working on his running or in the classroom.
Kamm posted a GPA of 3.76 majoring in Spanish and that performance combined with his win in the at the NCAA Outdoor Championships earned him the honor of US Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Scholar Athlete of the Year. Kamm is the first NESCAC Athlete to be so honored by the USTFCCCA.
No one would have predicted that Kamm would win this year’s NCAA 5K at the end of the 2009 season, considering a year ago he could not even break 15:30 in the event. He won this year in 14:28, just two seconds off his personal best and almost 62 seconds faster than he ran in 2009.
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| Connor Kamm '10 winning 2010 NCAA 5K |
It is unusual in a national championship final to come close to a personal best, as most often the race is more tactics than speed. Kamm was not only able to deliver one of his fastest times ever, but also out kicked two talented runners to take the title in 14:28.06. Kamm's strength in the 5000m and what proved to be his advantage over the rest of the competition, is his ability to sustain a quick pace and then still unleash a blistering kick, which is exactly the strategy he employed en route to his 5K victory.
Kamm was one of seven Ephs to qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track and Field Team, compiling a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 and having met either the NCAA Division III Indoor or Outdoor automatic or provisional qualifying standard. The Eph total of seven academic honorees was the tops among NESCAC teams.
Joining Kamm in receiving academic recognition are Chris Fogler, Richard Fusco, Josephat Koima, Isaac Nicholson, Anthony Raduazo and Corey Watts. Additionally Watts won a prestigious and nationally competitive Watson Fellowship for graduate study.
