Eastern Michigan Athletics
Pollatz and McDermitt Earn Google Cloud Academic All-American® Honors
6/21/2018 10:22:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
This is Pollatz's first time earning the accolade and McDermitt's second-straight year reeling in the honors
AUSTIN, Texas (EMUEagles.com) - Eastern Michigan University track and field co-captains, Janina Pollatz (Grand Rapids, Mich.-Grand Rapids Christian) and Jordann McDermitt (Davison, Mich.-Davison), were named Google Cloud Academic All-Americans® by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Thursday, June 21. Pollatz was selected as a Second Team Academic All-American, while McDermitt earned Third Team honors.
The Google Cloud Academic All-American® Teams are comprised of the best cross country/track and field student athletes for their combined performances in competition and in the classroom. To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Eastern is just one of four schools in the nation to have multiple women selected as Academic All-Americans, along with Oklahoma State, Arkansas, and Minnesota.
Pollatz joins McDermitt as the only two women's track and field athletes from EMU that have received the award. This also marks just the 10th time in Eastern Michigan history that multiple student-athletes earned the award in the same year. Moreover, this is the first time two or more student-athletes from the same program earned the CoSIDA honors in the same year since baseball athletes, Jim Luckhardt and Bob Owchinko, in 1976.
This was Pollatz's first time earning Academic All-American honors, although she has been an excellent student and one of EMU's best pole vaulters since first stepping foot in Ypsilanti. The Grand Rapids native had yet another strong campaign in her last season donning the Green and White, marking the program's third-best outdoor vault in history with a height of 4.17m. Additionally, she reached that milestone at the prestigious Jesse Owens Track Classic, which earned her a first-place finish and qualified her to the NCAA East Preliminaries for the second time in her career. The electronic media major serves as just one of 28 women All-Americans who boast a 4.0 or better.
McDermitt reeled in the honors for the second time in her career, having been named a Second Team Academic All-American in 2017. The senior capped off her incredible time here at EMU with more outstanding showings in cross country, indoor, and outdoor track and field. To start, she placed fourth at the MAC Cross Country Championships to earn First Team All-MAC honors and assist the team to its third straight conference title. She then went on to become an all-region honoree after finishing fifth, before becoming the first Eagle to cross the finish line at the NCAA Championships, placing 78th on the big stage. During the indoor season, McDermitt shined in the 5000m, being placed on the All-MAC Second Team after finishing second with a time of 16:35.54. Finally, the Davison, Mich. native placed fourth in the 5000m at the MAC Outdoor Championships with an NCAA Preliminary qualifying time of 16:15.52. McDermitt saw her unbelievable career come to a close at the preliminaries, placing 15th and just missing the cut to the final round of competition. The exercise science major had a cumulative GPA of 3.97, and is just one of 10 Academic All-American women selections this year to have earned the honor more than once.
EMU's All-time Academic All-America® Honorees
1974 Baseball Ken Bruchanski Second Team
1975 Baseball Ken Bruchanski Second Team
1976 Baseball Jim Luckhardt Second Team
Baseball Bob Owchinko Second Team
Men's Basketball Dan Hoff Second Team
2001 Football Cory Annett Second Team
Women's At-Large Tracy Deeter First Team
Women's Soccer Amanda Kulikowski Second Team
2004 Baseball Brian Bixler Second Team
Softball Nikki Denman Third Team
2006 Women's At-Large Sarah Chrzanowski Second Team
2007 Baseball Jeff Hehr Third Team
Women's At-Large Sarah Chrzanowski First Team
Women's Basketball Sarah VanMetre First Team
2008 Men's At-Large Don Ellison Third Team
Women's Volleyball Jillian Wolosiansky Third Team
2009 Baseball Kyle Rhoad Third Team
Men's At-Large Donald Ellison Second Team
Men's Track/Cross Country Oliver Walther Third Team
2013 Football Cy Maughmer Second Team
Women's Soccer Stephanie Clarke Third Team
2014 Men's Track/Cross Country Harry Dixson Third Team
Women's Soccer Emily Dzik Second Team
Women's Volleyball Jill Briner First Team
2015 Baseball John Rubino Third Team
2016 Men's Track/Cross Country Willy Fink Third Team
2017 Women's Track/Cross Country Jordann McDermitt Second Team
Men's Track/Cross Country Willy Fink Third Team
2018 Women's Track/Cross Country Janina Pollatz Second Team
Women's Track/Cross Country Jordann McDermitt Third Team
The Google Cloud Academic All-American® Teams are comprised of the best cross country/track and field student athletes for their combined performances in competition and in the classroom. To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Eastern is just one of four schools in the nation to have multiple women selected as Academic All-Americans, along with Oklahoma State, Arkansas, and Minnesota.
Pollatz joins McDermitt as the only two women's track and field athletes from EMU that have received the award. This also marks just the 10th time in Eastern Michigan history that multiple student-athletes earned the award in the same year. Moreover, this is the first time two or more student-athletes from the same program earned the CoSIDA honors in the same year since baseball athletes, Jim Luckhardt and Bob Owchinko, in 1976.
This was Pollatz's first time earning Academic All-American honors, although she has been an excellent student and one of EMU's best pole vaulters since first stepping foot in Ypsilanti. The Grand Rapids native had yet another strong campaign in her last season donning the Green and White, marking the program's third-best outdoor vault in history with a height of 4.17m. Additionally, she reached that milestone at the prestigious Jesse Owens Track Classic, which earned her a first-place finish and qualified her to the NCAA East Preliminaries for the second time in her career. The electronic media major serves as just one of 28 women All-Americans who boast a 4.0 or better.
McDermitt reeled in the honors for the second time in her career, having been named a Second Team Academic All-American in 2017. The senior capped off her incredible time here at EMU with more outstanding showings in cross country, indoor, and outdoor track and field. To start, she placed fourth at the MAC Cross Country Championships to earn First Team All-MAC honors and assist the team to its third straight conference title. She then went on to become an all-region honoree after finishing fifth, before becoming the first Eagle to cross the finish line at the NCAA Championships, placing 78th on the big stage. During the indoor season, McDermitt shined in the 5000m, being placed on the All-MAC Second Team after finishing second with a time of 16:35.54. Finally, the Davison, Mich. native placed fourth in the 5000m at the MAC Outdoor Championships with an NCAA Preliminary qualifying time of 16:15.52. McDermitt saw her unbelievable career come to a close at the preliminaries, placing 15th and just missing the cut to the final round of competition. The exercise science major had a cumulative GPA of 3.97, and is just one of 10 Academic All-American women selections this year to have earned the honor more than once.
EMU's All-time Academic All-America® Honorees
1974 Baseball Ken Bruchanski Second Team
1975 Baseball Ken Bruchanski Second Team
1976 Baseball Jim Luckhardt Second Team
Baseball Bob Owchinko Second Team
Men's Basketball Dan Hoff Second Team
2001 Football Cory Annett Second Team
Women's At-Large Tracy Deeter First Team
Women's Soccer Amanda Kulikowski Second Team
2004 Baseball Brian Bixler Second Team
Softball Nikki Denman Third Team
2006 Women's At-Large Sarah Chrzanowski Second Team
2007 Baseball Jeff Hehr Third Team
Women's At-Large Sarah Chrzanowski First Team
Women's Basketball Sarah VanMetre First Team
2008 Men's At-Large Don Ellison Third Team
Women's Volleyball Jillian Wolosiansky Third Team
2009 Baseball Kyle Rhoad Third Team
Men's At-Large Donald Ellison Second Team
Men's Track/Cross Country Oliver Walther Third Team
2013 Football Cy Maughmer Second Team
Women's Soccer Stephanie Clarke Third Team
2014 Men's Track/Cross Country Harry Dixson Third Team
Women's Soccer Emily Dzik Second Team
Women's Volleyball Jill Briner First Team
2015 Baseball John Rubino Third Team
2016 Men's Track/Cross Country Willy Fink Third Team
2017 Women's Track/Cross Country Jordann McDermitt Second Team
Men's Track/Cross Country Willy Fink Third Team
2018 Women's Track/Cross Country Janina Pollatz Second Team
Women's Track/Cross Country Jordann McDermitt Third Team
Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Women's Track & Field
Pole Vault/Jumps
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