Storm women post No. 2 GPA in Division III, men also honored

INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Simpson women's track and field team posted one of the highest team GPAs in the nation as both the women's and men's squads earned All-Academic Team honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for the 2014-15 academic year.

The women's team posted an eye-popping 3.64 cumulative grade point average in 2014-15, the second-best in Division III. The Storm were just 0.01 points behind Division III leader Saint Vincent, which finished with a 3.65 GPA.

Simpson's effort was the sixth highest in all divisions and the best in head coach Dave Cleveland's tenure at Simpson.

The men's team posted a 3.15 cumulative GPA, making Simpson one of four schools in the Iowa Conference to have both the men's and women's team qualify. Dubuque, Luther and Wartburg were the others.

Both genders have earned the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team Award in each of Cleveland's 10 seasons at the helm, dating back to the 2005-06 academic year. The Storm have also had at least one national qualifier in each of those 10 seasons. Bayley Fleshner (100-meter hurdles) and Dylan Kalinay (110-meter hurdles) represented the Storm at outdoor nationals in 2015.

In all, 170 women's teams and 99 men's teams earned the All-Academic Team distinction by posting at least a 3.10 team GPA.