2022 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Men's Track & Field/Cross Country Teams
MENOMONIE (June 22, 2022) - UW-Stout two-time national champion and six-time All-American
Kevin Ruechel was selected as a second team member to the 2022 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Men's Track & Field/Cross Country Team.
Ruechel recently graduated from UW-Stout with a degree in mechanical engineering with a grade point average of 3.39. A native of Pulaski, Wis., Ruechel will begin work as a project manager for Midwest Manufacturing. It was the first time Ruechel was selected to the academic squad.
Ruechel closed out his collegiate career by winning both the WIAC indoor and outdoor shot put championship, and added the outdoor discus title. Ruechel won his second national shot put title this season, winning the NCAA indoor title in March. He took second at the outdoor national championship in the shot put and claimed a third place discus All-America award. Ruechel was named as the USTFCCCA North Region Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year after setting the top distance in the shot put at 18.29m (60-feet, 0.25-inches).
Ruechel set the school record this year in both the indoor (61-9.50) and the outdoor shot put (60-0.25). Ruechel is currently ninth on the school's all-time indoor weight throw record board (56-3), third on the outdoor discus (178-8), ninth on the hammer throw (170-2) and 10th on the javelin (169-3). All six marks were set in 2022.
Ruechel earned six All-America medals throughout his career, five times in shot put, once in discus; 2019, indoor shot put, 6th; 2020 indoor shot put; 2021 outdoor shot put, 1st; 2022 indoor shot put, 1st; 2022 outdoor shot put, 2nd; 2022 discus 3rd...upon graduation, is the only Stout athlete to throw the shot put more than 60 feet both indoor and outdoor....
The Division III Academic All-America® program is financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2021-22 Division III Academic All-America® program.
Ten of the 45 members of the Academic All-America® Division III men's track and field/cross country teams boast a perfect 4.0 GPA in their undergraduate work or graduate school. The 16 honorees on the first team have an average GPA of 3.94, with the entire men's team combining for a collective 3.87 GPA.
A total of 17 student-athletes, including CoSIDA Academic All-America® of the Year honoree Steven Hermsen of Carroll University, are repeat selections on the Academic All-America® Division III men's track and field/cross country team: Isaac Alderfer (Eastern Mennonite University), David Bradley (Wheaton (Ill.) College), Garrett Clark (John Carroll University), Matyas Csiki-Fejer (Suffolk University), Nick Hoffman (Hope College), Mike Jasa (Loras College), Matthew Karee (Carnegie Mellon University), Justin Kiefel (Carnegie Mellon University), Ben Kuxmann (Millikin University), Andrew Lauber (Wheaton (Ill.) College), Bram Miller (Carnegie Mellon University), Justin Park (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Shawn Schindler (Saint John's (Minn.) University), Oliver Thomas (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), Kenneth Wei (MIT) and Dallas Wright (Wartburg College).
