2023-24 CSC Women's Track & Field / Cross Country Academic All-America Teams

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – A trio of Slippery Rock University women's track & field standouts were named to Academic All-America honors when the College Sports Communicators announced the 2023-24 Track & Field and Cross Country Academic All-America teams Tuesday.
 
Slippery Rock led all schools in the Atlantic Region with three selections to the Division II Academic All-America team with distance runner Anna Igims and thrower Tiffany Jolayemi being named to second team honors and pole vaulter Kendall Grossman being named to third team honors.
 
All three of the SRU honorees are first-time selections to the Academic All-America team.
 
The three selections for The Rock mark the most women's track & field honorees in a single year in program history. SRU had two women's track & field athletes honored in seven different years with the most recent occurrence happening in 2021-22.
 
In order to be named to the Academic All-America team, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore in athletic and academic standing, must own a cumulative GPA of at least 3.50, must rank in the top 50 regionally in at least one event and should be at least an All-Region caliber performer. The Academic All-America team is nominated for and voted on by the nation's athletic communication professionals.
 
All three of the Slippery Rock honorees have completed their academic coursework for their undergraduate degrees and all three own a GPA above 3.89.
 
The College Sports Communicators will announce the Men's Track & Field and Cross Country Academic All-America team Wednesday.

The trio of women's track & field Academic All-Americans brings Slippery Rock to a total of 133 Academic All-America selections since the creation of the award in 1970, which ranks first in the Atlantic Region and in the top 10 among all NCAA Division II institutions.

A brief look at the academic and athletic accomplishments of the three honorees can be viewed below.
 
KENDALL GROSSMAN
Academics: Grossman earned her undergraduate degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering with a minor in mathematics and a 3.892 GPA.
 
Athletics: Grossman won the PSAC indoor title in the pole vault and went on to earn All-America honors with a 12th place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships in March. She recorded a career-best clearance of 3.97 meters and moved up four places from her seed mark to earn her first career All-America award. Grossman was also the PSAC runner-up outdoor to earn her fifth career All-PSAC honor. She is a seven-time All-Region honoree in the pole vault across her career.
 
ANNA IGIMS
Academics: Igims graduated in May with a 3.98 GPA and a degree in school wellness education with a minor in public health.
 
Athletics: SRU's Female Athlete of the Year, Igims earned eight All-Region honors in 2023-24 alone, beginning in the fall when she was first team All-PSAC and All-Region in cross country. She followed that by being named the PSAC and Atlantic Region Track Athlete of the Year during the indoor season after winning four PSAC titles (mile, 3K, 5K, DMR) on the way to being named the Track and Overall MVP at the PSAC indoor meet. She closed the spring by earning first team All-America honors in the steeplechase with a seventh place finish at the National Championships, which followed another two PSAC titles (steeplechase, 5K) and the Track MVP award at the PSAC outdoor meet. Igims broke the SRU indoor record in the mile (4:56.84) and shattered her own outdoor record in the steeplechase (10:24.93). She was All-Region in four events indoor, three events outdoor and finished the year with six PSAC titles to her name. She was also named as one of 23 total women from all sports nationwide to earn the NCAA Division II 50th Anniversary Scholarship.
 
TIFFANY JOLAYEMI
Academics: Jolayemi earned her undergraduate degree from SRU in industrial and systems engineering with a minor in mathematics with a perfect 4.0 GPA after 148 credit hours. This year, she put up a 3.89 GPA in the data analytics master's degree program.
 
Athletics: Jolayemi earned All-Region honors during the outdoor season for ranking first in the PSAC and the Atlantic Region in the hammer throw with a toss of 54.17 meters. That mark was just shy of her own SRU record of 54.20 meters, which she set in 2023. She also ranked seventh in the region indoor in the weight throw and earned All-PSAC honors at the PSAC indoor meet in the weight throw. A two-time PSAC Champion Scholar award winner, Jolayemi was honored this spring for owning the highest undergrad GPA among all athletes competing at the PSAC Championships. She is a three-time All-Region honoree.
 
 


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