Six Warrior harriers receive NAIA academic honors

11-19-07

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Six member of the Lewis-Clark State College cross country team earned Daktronics-NAIA Cross Country Scholar-Athlete honors, the organization has announced. 

Three runners from each the Warrior men’s and women’s teams received the accolades. A total of 298 athletes from 100 schools were honored. 

Runners were nominated by each institution’s head coach. To qualify a student-athlete must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.50 on a 4.00 scale and be a junior in academic standings.

Earning honors for the Warrior men were seniors Calin Hantau of Sighisoara, Romani, and Aaron Galbraith of Wenatchee, Wash. It’s the second straight year Galbraith has been honored. Junior Adrian Ramirez of Yakima, Wash., also earned honors. 

The women were led by senior Rikki Glick of Bend, Ore., junior Rosa Bautista of Stanfield, Ore., and Katja Palm-Loevslett of Stavanger, Norway. Palm-Loevslett is considered a junior in academic standing but is only a sophomore eligibility-wise on the cross country team. 

LCSC has a total of 40 runners honored either as NAIA Academic or athletic All-Americans since 1999 under coach Mike Collins, which is an average of nearly five a year. 

“I am glad to see these honors earned as it has always been part of our team philosophy to see our student-athletes work just as hard in the classroom as they do in their races,” Collins says. 

This past weekend, the Warrior men’s cross country team placed 18th in the NAIA national meet for the program’s best finish ever. The women were 19th, marking the seventh straight year the team has finished 21st or better at nationals. 

“I could not be prouder of both of these teams in their efforts on behalf of LC State and I am excited when I think of what our team will look like next year,” Collins said about the national meet. “We have a great core of runners back, we have some experience on the national course and we will have some new runners that will buy into our team concept and help to continue to propel both teams to higher and higher finishes at the championships.  My goal as a coach to build and prepare a team that can win a national title.  I think we have in the works teams in the future that will eventually accomplish this goal.”