Rams lead the nation with four CoSIDA Academic All-America honors

AUSTIN, Texas – Senior Jefferson Abbey, junior Mostafa Hassan, senior Alex Hess and junior Jerrell Mock of the Colorado State track & field team were each named CoSIDA Academic All-America on Friday. The Rams' four accolades, which were announced by CoSIDA on Friday, are the most of any track & field program in the nation.

Mock was voted to the first team, while Abbey and Hassan rounded out CSU's men's honorees with second-team accolades. On the women's side, Hess earned Third-Team Academic All-America honors. Only 15 other programs in the nation had multiple Academic All-America honorees, and only three other programs had more than two. On the men's side, CSU's three Academic All-America honors also ranked as the most in the nation. Only two other programs had more than one honor on the men's side.

In order to be eligible for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, student-athletes must first be voted CoSIDA Academic All-District. In order to be eligible for Academic All-District honors, student-athletes must have a grade-point average of at least 3.3 with legitimate credentials in athletics. Once student-athletes are selected from each district through a vote of that district's sports information directors, another vote is conducted to determine the year's Academic All-America honors. The Academic All-America Committee, CoSIDA Board of Directors and CoSIDA staff comprise the group of votes for Academic All-America honors.

Abbey, Hassan, Hess and Mock are the first CSU athletes in any sport to receive CoSIDA Academic All-America honors since Dana Cranston (volleyball) in 2012. The four are the first CSU track & field/cross country athletes to be named Academic All-America since 2008 (Alex Godell and April Thomas).

Mock adds his First-Team Academic All-America honor to his sizable list of accolades through his junior season. Mock, who has a 3.84 GPA in biological science, earned the third and fourth All-America honors of his career in the indoor 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters, respectively, this season. At the Stanford Invitational (March 31), Mock ran the 10,000 meters in 28:11.80, breaking a 30-year-old program record by nearly a minute. Mock also broke CSU's 5,000 meters record during the indoor season. The Logan, Utah native ranks third in the 10,000 meters in Mountain West history, as well as fourth in the indoor 5,000.

Hassan balanced world-class athletic feats with his commitment to CSU's engineering program. The 2017 indoor NCAA champion and outdoor national runner-up in the shot put closed out his junior year with a 3.37 GPA in mechanical engineering. The four-time First-Team All-American finished 2016-17 as the world's fourth-ranked indoor shot putter, and the world's No. 9-ranked shot putter for the outdoor season. The native of Cairo, Egypt owns CSU and Mountain West records in the indoor (69-10.75/21.30m) and outdoor (69-11/21.31m) shot put, all set during the 2016-17 seasons.

Abbey closes his CSU career with Academic All-America honors after graduating with a 3.67 GPA in history. On the track, the senior finished his career as a two-time All-American and a 10-time All-Mountain West performer. This season, he won the individual Mountain West title in the outdoor 5,000 meters, and clocked a 5,000 time of 13:37.23 at the Stanford Invitational (March 31) to break a 17-year-old CSU record. The Fort Collins, Colo., native also owns the CSU record in the 3,000 meters (7:51.38), and ranks fourth in program history in the 1,500 meters (3:42.95).

On the women's side, Hess was voted one of the nation's top scholar-athletes after earning a perfect 4.0 GPA in CSU's doctor of veterinary medicine program. Hess, who also maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA in her undergraduate studies, placed fourth in the 10,000 meters at the 2016 Mountain West Outdoor Championships to highlight her contributions at conference meets over the past three seasons. Hess is the No. 16 performer in the 10,000 meters (35:51.08) in program history.

The Rams completed a historic 2016-17 year, highlighted by the men's team's highest-ever indoor finish (No. 12). The men also finished this past cross country season ranked 17th for the program's highest finish since 2003. Recently, the USTFCCCA ranked the Rams' men at No. 8 in its Program of the Year standings, which considers results from the each of the cross country, indoor and outdoor seasons.

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