UW-La Crosse Receives USTFCCCA Program of the Year Award

Katie Wagner, Derek Stanley, Phil Whitesitt, Josh Buchholtz and Damon Martin (USTFCCCA President)

San Antonio, Texas - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's track & field squad received its 2014-15 Al Carius Division III Men's Program of the Year Award Tuesday night at the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Convention at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. It marks the third consecutive season UWL has earned the award.

The USTFCCCA Program of the Year Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding cross country/track & field programs in each of the three divisions for each gender in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The award honors the institution that has achieved the most success in each academic year (spanning the cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field seasons) based on the institution's finish at the NCAA Championships. In order to be eligible for the award, teams must qualify for each of the NCAA Championships. Scoring is based on the team's finish at each NCAA Championship in cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field (i.e. 1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 points, 31st = 31 points) with the lowest total score for all three championships combined determining the award recipient. Ties among schools split points for positions taken.

UWL finished third at the 2014 NCAA Division III Cross Country championship, second at the 2015 NCAA III indoor track & field championships and captured the national title at the 2015 NCAA III outodoor track & field championships. The Eagles finished with 6.0 points to win this year's program of the year title while UW-Eau Claire was second with 10.0 points and St. Olaf College (Minn.) third with 11.0 North Central College (Ill.) placed fourth (14.0).

UW-Eau Claire captured the 2015 NCAA III indoor track & field title, placed second at the outdoor track & field championships and seventh in cross country. St. Olaf (Minn.) was second at cross country, fourth at indoor track & field and fifth at outdoor track & field while North Central (Ill.) won the NCAA III cross country crown and finished fifth at indoor track & field and seventh outdoors.

North Central (Ill.) captured the USTFCCCA Men's Program of the Year in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 while UW-Oshkosh won the first program of the year award in 2008-09.

The Al Carius Program of the Year Award is named after USTFCCCA Hall of Famer and long-time North Central College (Ill.) head coach Al Carius.

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