(photo by Tim O'Dowd)

Recent William and Mary graduate Alex McGrath '13 was named to the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District team on Thursday, one of 11 men's track and field athletes from North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee to earn the top honor.  With the All-District award, McGrath now advances to the national ballot for Academic All-America honors.

McGrath graduated earlier this month with a degree in international relations, after leading W&M to a sweep of both cross country and track and field conference championships in 2012-13.  In the fall, he was the Colonial Athletic Association individual champion, Athlete of the Year, and Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and also earned USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades as well as a spot on the all-region team for the second year in a row.  Indoors, McGrath earned All-East honors at the IC4A 3,000m Championships, and set lifetime-bests in the mile, 3,000m, and 5,000m.  Outdoors, he also set bests in the 1,500m and 5,000m, the latter when he ran 13:55.37 in Mt. SAC in mid-April.  McGrath also took second in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the CAA Championships in helping lead the Tribe to its first conference championship since 2004, and ran at the NCAA Championships for the third year in a row.  He also earned a rare honor in April, as he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study and teach in Russia next year.

The Academic All-America teams will be announced on June 27.