Men’s Cross Country, Rams Pair Earns USTFCCCA All-Academic Awards

• USTFCCCA RELEASE
• 2023 NCAA DIII MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY ALL-ACADEMIC ATHLETES
• 2023 NCAA DIII MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY ALL-ACADEMIC TEAMs

NEW ORLEANS – Suffolk men's cross country and two Rams, Hayden Green and Thomas Novy, were rewarded for their academic accolades by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The Rams garnered the 2023 All-Academic Team Award, while Green and Novy received an All-Academic Athlete nod, the national organization unveiled.

In order for a team to qualify for All-Academic distinction, teams must have a cumulative GPA of 3.1 on a 4.0 scale, including the most recent grading period and finish in the top-25 percent of their respective regional championship. 

Suffolk's squad combined for a 3.26 GPA to hit the academic qualification and the Rams took eighth at NCAA DIII East Regional Championships Nov. 11, 2023 at Franklin Park, the best regional finish in program history to take home their seventh straight team academic award from the national organization. 

Suffolk was one of four Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) teams featured on the 194 NCAA Division III list along with Endicott (3.48), Roger Williams (3.34) and Wentworth (3.56).  

For a student-athlete to be considered for the award, they must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.30 on a 4.0 scale and finish in the top-25 percent of their respective regional championship meet. 

Novy earned his second straight accolade. In the classroom, the Big Data and Business Analytics concentrator notched a 3.553 GPA. On the course, the junior from Simsbury, Connecticut, clocked a career-high 8k of 25:46.38, good for 32nd in 229-runner field at regionals. 

Green, meanwhile, garnered his first such honor. The sophomore sports a 3.892 cumulative GPA through three semesters as an undergraduate law student. At regionals, he slid into 47th with a personal-best time of 26:19.21. 

Suffolk saw a pair of student-athletes recognized in the same season for the first time in program history. Novy, who was the second-ever athlete honored with the distinction, becomes the second Ram with multiple accolades on his resume joining Matyas Csiki-Fejer, who picked up the feat three times in his career (2018, 2019 and 2021). Green joins Novy and Csiki-Fjer on the elite list as the third-ever male runner in blue-and-gold to garner the award.  

Overall, there were 344 men from 125 different institutions who were named All-Academic Athletes for their combined athletic and academic efforts during the 2023 cross country campaign. Green and Novy are two of five CCC student-athletes to etch their names on the national list with a pair of Endicott Gulls in Josh Lehmann and Caleb Nye and Ryan Ballard of Wentworth.