Men's Track and Field | 5/31/2022 9:48:00 AM
TROY, N.Y. - The 2021-22 CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Academic All-District Men's and Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Teams have been announced and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athletes
Matt Lecky, Morgan Lee,
Justin Park and
Davis Piercy are among those recognized. Each are now eligible for National Academic All-America consideration.
A junior distance runner, Lecky (Middletown, CT / Middletown) earned three All-America certificates this past year, including one in cross country and two in indoor track. He was 38th at the national cross country meet in the fall, fifth in the 3000 meters at the Division III Indoor Championship and part of the seventh-place indoor distance medley relay squad in March. Lecky, who also qualified for outdoor nationals in the 5000 meters (9th place), was the Liberty League Runner of the Year in both cross country and indoor track. He was a conference weekly Performer of the Week eight times and All-Region six times.
A chemistry major with a 3.97 cumulative grade point average, Lecky is a multiple Liberty League All-Academic and Dean's Honor List honoree. He is a member of Phi Lambda Upsilon, Rensselaer's chemistry honor society, who is interning at Dyno Nobel Inc. and performing chemistry research and development.
Lee (Edgewater, MD / South River), also a junior distance runner, was chosen on the women's side as an aeronautical engineering and mechanical engineering dual major with a 3.81 cumulative GPA. A Dean's Honor List student and conference All-Academic choice, she has had internships with Systems Engineering Group Inc., simulating foreign missile threats for the Department of Defense, and Boeing, handling space modeling and simulation for its space/defense sector.
In cross country and track & field, Lee was the conference Rookie of the Year in the fall who went on to earn Liberty League titles in the indoor mile and 3000 meters and outdoor 1500 and 5000 meters. A multiple weekly award winner, she was an NCAA Indoor Championship qualifier in the 3000 meters and mile, participating in the mile. She went on to rank among the top 30 in the outdoor 5000 meters with a time of 17:02.67, which she ran at the Penn Relays as one of only two competitors from Division III in that event.
Now a two-time Academic All-District choice, Park (York, ME / York), a thrower, is attempting to repeat as a CoSIDA National All-America selection. He was on the Second Team in 2020-21. A five-time winner and three-time runner-up in the javelin during his career, he set personal-bests in the hammer and shot put in 2021-22. A conference All-Academic and Dean's Honor's List selection, Park was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
The applied physics and geology dual major who minored in astrobiology and philosophy, he graduated with a 3.98 GPA as an undergraduate in 2021. Now a Ph.D. candidate in geology, he is involved in research in astrobiology while also serving with the I-PERSIST (Integrative - Program for Education, Research, and Support Involving Science and Technology) Mentor program. The recipient of the Robert G. Lafleur Geology Award, he had an internship with Sponge-Jet Inc. Engineering Technologies.
Piercy (Kennett Square, PA / Kennett), a computer & systems engineering major with a 3.86 grade point average, has done research in the ALSETLab at Rensselaer for three terms and is currently interning with the Jahnel Group, a software company.
The junior distance runner was All-America in the DMR, along with Lecky, before earning runner-up at the Liberty League Outdoor Championship in both the 800 meters and 1500 meters. A multiple conference All-Academic and Dean's Honor List qualifier, he also runs cross country for the Engineers. Piercy set personal-bests in both the 6k and 8k distances this fall.
The announcement of the CoSIDA National Academic All-America teams is expected in late June.
