Annalese Chudy (left) and Lauren Wong (right) College Sports Communicators Academic All-America

Chudy & Wong Earn CSC Academic All-America Status

Both receive the honor for the first time in their careers

7/9/2024 11:10:00 AM

CSC Release

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Illinois Wesleyan University women's cross country and track and field teams saw two Titans garner College Sports Communicators Academic All-America honors as senior Lauren Wong (Morton, Ill.-Morton) was named to the Second Team and junior Annalese Chudy (Libertyville, Ill.-Libertyville) earned a spot on the Third Team, the organization announced Tuesday, July 9.

Chudy and Wong become the ninth and tenth Academic All-Americans in program history and are the first to receive the honor since the duo of Ayana Blair and Kelsey Wyman did so in 2021. The 2021 and 2024 pairs are the only occasions the program has seen more than one Titan land Academic All-America honors in an academic year.

Chudy and Wong's selections bring Illinois Wesleyan's Academic All-America total to 154 since the award's establishment in 1952. IWU's total honorees ranks top-10 in all of NCAA Division III, while it is inside the top-25 across NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA.

After earning her second Academic All-District just three weeks ago, Wong, a quantitative finance major with a 3.68 GPA, earns her first Academic All-America distinction to cap off an illustrious career at IWU. Wong's academic resume includes two United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic awards, three years as an Academic All-CCIW selection, and is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society.

Wong was a 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field qualifier and was named a USTFCCCA All-Region selection in the triple jump. A 10x All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin honoree in the triple and long jump events that includes a sweep of the horizontal jumps titles in 2023, Wong finished out her senior season ranked sixth in the Midwest for the triple jump indoors (11.72m, 38'5.5") and was 11th in the region outdoors (11.28m, 37'0.25"). Wong was just shy of the nation's top 20 indoors, as she ranked 21st in the triple jump in her final season. She also ranked 25th regionally in the indoor long jump (5.33m, 17'6") and 42nd outdoors (5.15m, 16'10.75"). Wong's name is etched in the record books, having boasted the third-best triple jump outdoors (11.98m, 39'3.75") and ranks fourth indoors (11.72m, 38'5.5").

A junior neuroscience major, Chudy boasts a 3.85 GPA to earn her first Academic All-America honor of her career after reeling in her second CSC Academic All-District selection. Chudy has been named an Academic All-CCIW honoree in each of the last two seasons and was named a USTFCCCA All-Academic athlete for the second time at the conclusion of the cross country season.

In her junior campaign, Chudy became the only Titan on the women's side to qualify for back-to-back cross country NCAA Championships. Chudy's qualifying bid came after a 25th-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships where she earned USTFCCCA All-Region for the second time in her cross country career. Chudy turned in a first team all-conference performance at the CCIW Cross Country Championships for the second straight season, helping the Green and White to a second-place team finish in 2023. The junior then went on to post three regionally ranked marks for indoor track and field: 25th in the 5,000m (18:16.45), 36th in the 3,000m (10:41.87), and 43rd in the mile (5:18.04). Chudy's highest regional rank was in the 10,000m outdoors where she posted a 36:36.18 to sit ninth in the Midwest and is the seventh-fastest time by a Titan in program history. Chudy also ranked 31st in the 5,000m outdoors (18:11.37).

Across the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, a total of six women's track and field student-athletes garnered the distinction. Illinois Wesleyan and North Central each had two selections while Augustana College and Wheaton College had one each.

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