GREENWOOD, Ind. - Senior Ernie Waterson (Bloomington, Ill.-Cornerstone Christian Academy) of the Illinois Wesleyan University men's track and field and cross country teams was voted College Sports Communicators Third Team Academic All-America Wednesday, July 16. He is the program's first honoree since 2017 and the seventh overall.

Waterson becomes the first men's cross country/track and field student-athlete to receive the award since Eric Rydell secured his second straight selection in 2017. Overall, he is just the fourth individual in program history to receive the distinction joining three-time selection J.C. Anderson (1983, 1984, & 1985), Max Leondard (2016), and Rydell (2016 & 2017).

With Waterson's selection, IWU's all-time Academic All-America list now sits at 176, which is top-25 across NCAA Division I, II, and III, as well as top-10 in Division III. The Titans complete the 2024-25 academic year with 16 CSC Academic All-America honors, breaking the previous mark of 10 set in 2023-24. Waterson joins Annalese Chudy (women's cross country/track & field), Adriana Crabtree (women's cross country/track & field), Quinn Clifford (at-large - men's golf), Griffin Pohl (at-large - men's golf), Juney Bai (at-large - men's golf), Billy McHugh (at-large - men's lacrosse), Sam Weinberg (at-large - men's lacrosse), Macy Ludwig (at-large - women's golf), Jen Kuhn (softball), Ava Khoury (softball), Nick Roper (men's basketball), Mallory Powers (women's basketball), Lauren Huber (women's basketball & women's cross country/track & field), and Kannyn Boyd (women's volleyball) as the 16th Titans to receive the distinguished honor this academic year. To view the list of Illinois Wesleyan's all-time awardwinners, click here.

Turning in arguably the best year of his career, Waterson claimed the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Outdoor 800m title. Earning his degree in economics with a 3.51 grade point average, his outdoor 800m time ranked sixth in the region. On the indoor list, he was slotted 18th in the 800m and 20th in the mile. Waterson wraps up his career with seven appearances on IWU's all-time top-10 list. He graduates with the second-fastest outdoor 800m time in program laurels at 1:51.48, the fastest since Tyler Saunders set the standard in 2012.