Madzia, Valles Earn CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team Honors

CINCINNATI - Juliana Madzia and Adrian Valles, members of the University of Cincinnati track & field/cross country program, have been named CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team honorees, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced Friday. The honor, which is the highest given annually to collegiate student-athletes, continues to add to the haul both individuals have accumulated during the 2016-17 seasons, both academically and athletically.

Collectively, the duo joined New Mexico as the only institutions to have at least one man and one woman earn a placement on the first team list which is 15 names deep for each gender. Madzia and Valles collected the 41st and 42nd all-time CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in the history of UC Athletics with swimmer Connor Davis' honorable mention selection earlier this year standing as the 40th.

Valles earned his second career honor from CoSIDA as the Pamplona, Spain, native was a second-team honoree one year ago while Madzia earned her first CoSIDA honor and just the second in the history of the women's program while also becoming the first woman to earn first-team accolades after Mackenzie Fields was tabbed for second-team honors in 2013. Overall, Valles is one of seven men to have earned a national academic honor from CoSIDA with his most recent accolade standing as the 10th in the history of the men's program.

Historically for Valles, he now joins Scott Keane (1996 & 1997) and Eric Finan (2012) as the only members of the program to earn first team honors. Valles also becomes the fourth individual across all Bearcats programs to earn more than one national academic honor from CoSIDA with Keane earning three selections on the at-large team (second team in 1995 before two first-team honors), Mike Shingleton of men's soccer earning two at-large team selections on the second team (1993 and 1994); and volleyball player Julie DuPont being tabbed to the first team in 2004 after a second-team honor in 2003.

On the conference level, Madzia carried the banner for the American Athletic as she was the lone woman to be selected to any of the three teams. Valles was one of four men from the conference to earn a selection with Kirk Smith of Tulsa joining him on the first team. Houston's Brian Barraza was named to the second team while Memphis' Olushola Olojo grabbed a place on the honorable mention list.

Both individuals were selected in a vote of collegiate sports information staff members from around the nation after each was selected the CoSIDA Academic All-District 5 First Team earlier this year. To be eligible for selection, a student-athlete had to maintain a 3.30 GPA or better, be a significant contributor to his/her team and have been enrolled at the nominating institution for one full calendar year.

// MORE ON VALLES
Valles had another solid year for the Bearcats in the pole vault as he swept the indoor and outdoor competitions at the American Athletic Conference meets for the third year in a row and was named the indoor Male Field Performer of the Meet following a school-record performance. On the national level, Valles first placed fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships to grab his fourth career USTFCCCA All-America First Team honor before moving outdoors, where he nearly won the national title, instead settling for runner-up honors and his fifth first-team All-America accolade. His success was not limited to the runway, however, as he was once again one of the top scholars in both the conference and the NCAA. Indoors, he was selected for the NCAA Elite 90 Award, which goes to the one man and one woman at each of the NCAA's 90 championship events that holds the highest GPA of all participants. Later in the year, he was selected by the conference as its Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In April, Valles earned his degree from UC in industrial management and will continue to train and compete for the Bearcats next year while beginning a graduate degree program on campus.

// MORE ON MADZIA
Madzia has been the epitome of student-athlete in her short two years with the Bearcats. After walking onto the team for the 2015-16 academic year, the recent neurobiology graduate was one of the top distance runners at UC as she led the women's cross country team to a sixth-place showing this fall, the team's best finish since 2004, and also added her name to the outdoor record books in the 5,000m and 10,000m runs this year. Continually active in both academics and the community, Madzia recently earned the UC President's Leadership Medal of Excellence, the highest award on campus and the first time a female student-athlete has been tapped for the honor. The recipient of the AAC's Commissioner's Postgraduate Leadership Award, Madzia will enroll at the UC College of Medicine's Medical Science Training Program where she will work toward her MD and PhD in epidemiology.

All-Time UC Track & Field/Cross Country CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
MEN (7 with 10 Awards)
2017 - Adrian Valles - First Team (TF/XC)
2016 - Adrian Valles - Second Team (TF/XC)
2015 - Brian Barney - Second Team (TF/XC)
2013 - Matt Bova - Second Team (TF/XC)
2012 - Eric Finan - First Team (TF/XC)
2009 - Randy King - Third Team (TF/XC)
1998 - Mike Seymour - Third Team (At-Large)
1997 - Scott Keane - First Team (At-Large)
1996 - Scott Keane - First Team (At-Large)
1995 - Scott Keane - Second Team (At-Large)

WOMEN (2 with 2 Awards)
2017 - Juliana Madzia - First Team (TF/XC)
2013 - Mackenzie Fields - Second Team (TF/XC)