COLORADO SPRINGS -- March 26, 2019 -- Chadron State College junior
Ashton Hallsted, a 2018-19 All-American in the weight throw, was voted to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Academic First Team by the league's sports information directors, as announced Tuesday at rmacsports.org.
The Casper, Wyoming, native is one of 12 members of the CSC track and field squads honored, as nine women and two men also qualified for the league's Academic Honor Roll. The Honor Roll is designated for student-athletes in at least their second year of competition at their current school, who have a 3.30 cumulative grade point average or better.
In Hallsted's junior indoor season, she hit a mark of 19.72 meters in her first competition in early December, which was the top weight throw in NCAA Division II at the time, and stood all season in the top five on the national performance lists.
She nearly matched that performance in the RMAC Championships, hitting 19.67 meters, just two inches shy of her top throw and 10 feet further than the second place contestant, for her first trip to the top of the conference podium.
At nationals, Hallsted blew away the career best she established earlier in the season by throwing 20.24 meters, good for fifth place and her first time earning First Team All-America honors.
Just prior to the NCAA meet, she was named USTFCCCA All-Region for the top weight throw mark in the NCAA South Central Region.
Hallsted is a biology major with a 3.789 cumulative GPA.
The men's track and field student-athletes placed on the honor roll were Greggory Peterson (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and
Brendinh Sayaloune (Chadron). The women recognized were
Christina Frick (Fort Morgan, Colo.);
Alyse Henry (Rock Springs, Wyo.);
Cassidy Johnson (Rock Springs);
Sarah Myers (Anton, Colo.);
Kiya Passero (Chadron);
Julianne Thomsen (Custer, S.D.);
Madison Watson (Mitchell, Neb.);
Emma Willadsen (Eaton, Colo.); and Alle Williamson (Cheyenne, Wyo.).
For Peterson, a senior, it is the seventh academic honor roll of his career. Johnson has now been recognized five times after transferring from Black Hills State. Hallsted, who became eligible last year as a sophomore, was on the indoor honor roll in 2017-18 and was an All-Academic First Team selection for the 2018 outdoor season.
Chloe Cook and Ben Schneiderman, both of Colorado School of Mines, were the RMAC Indoor Track and Field Academic Athletes of the Year.
