JOPLIN, Mo. – Slippery Rock University men's cross country standout Ethan Brentham won the NCAA Elite 90 award at the 2023 Division II Cross Country Championships Friday evening at the championship banquet in Joplin, Missouri.
 
Brentham, a graduate student from Brookville, Pennsylvania, becomes the first Slippery Rock student-athlete in any sport to be named as an Elite 90 winner.  
 
He will represent SRU in the National Championships Saturday at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in Joplin, where he will be joined by teammate Joseph Cintavey as individual entries on the men's side, in addition to The Rock women's team also competing as a full team in the women's race.
 
The Elite 90 was founded by the NCAA to recognize student-athletes for excellence in competition and in the classroom. The honor is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 National Championships.
 
"I am tremendously proud of Ethan for his commitment to excellence both in competition and in his academic studies," said head coach Bill Jordan. "Not only is he among the most decorated athletes on campus, but he is also one of the very best students in terms of academic success. He's a terrific representative of our track & field and cross country programs and a great ambassador for Slippery Rock University."
 
This is the second major academic award won by Brentham this fall after he also took home the PSAC Champion Scholar Award for owning the highest GPA at the PSAC Championships. He earned his undergraduate degree in May of 2023 with a perfect 4.0 GPA after completing an incredible 143 credit hours while majoring in school wellness education and minoring in coaching. He is currently enrolled in the environmental education master's program at SRU.
 
On the course, Brentham is among the best distance runners in the Atlantic Region. He earned his second straight first team All-PSAC and All-Region awards this season, taking third overall at the PSAC Championships and finishing 10th at the Atlantic Region Championships, where his performance was good enough to qualify him to make his National Championships debut.
 
The Rock women will open the competition Saturday at nationals with the 6,000-meter race set for 11 a.m. (10 a.m. CT), while Brentham and Cintavey will run in the men's 10,000-meter race at 12:15 p.m. (11:15 a.m. CT).
 
Check out the full women's preview and meet info HERE and find the men's preview and meet info HERE.
 
 
 

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