By Caleb Scott

The Ohio Northern women's track and field team and sophomore Emily Richards and senior Sarah Ballmer have earned USTFCCCA DIII All-Academic accolades for the 2015-16 seasons.

The women's track team was named a DIII All-Academic Team after posting a cumulative GPA of 3.26. 

Northern was among 175 schools across the country in the running for the DIII Scholar Team of the Year.

To qualify for the award the team must finish highly at the national championships and have a cumulative team GPA of 3.10.

Richards, the 2016 Outdoor 800-meter run national champion, was one of 423 athletes to be named a USTFCCCA DIII All-Academic individual.

Ballmer, who was named All-Great Lakes Region in 2016, was also a recipient of the USTFCCCA DIII All-Academic award.

To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track & Field Team, the student athlete must have compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.3 and have met at least one of the following athletic standards:

Competed in an NCAA Indoor or Outdoor Championship

Finished the regular season ranked in the national top 35 in an individual event or ranked in the national top 25 (collective listing) in a relay event on the official NCAA POP list provided by TFRRS.org

The women's track and field team finished third in the OAC standings during the indoor season and second during the outdoor season under seventh-year head coach Jason Maus in 2015-16.