On the course, the Iowa Central cross country team is one of the best in the country.

Off it, the Tritons also excel.

Iowa Central earned All-Scholar Team distinction from the NJCAA Cross Country Coaches Association for both the men's program and women's program. 

"Every year, our program sets the goal of being nominated to be the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year and we constantly remind our student-athletes about the goal and the process needed to accomplish the goal," Iowa Central head coach Nick Ekel said. "To see our kids go out and take care of business is proof positive of the hard work they have put in to follow the processes we have in place to help them be successful academically. We preach the importance of academics because future employers and graduate school applications aren't going to necessarily care about how fast a person ran in the 5k or if they won an NJCAA national championship, but they will care about their GPA and if they received their degree."

The Triton men, who won both the NJCAA cross country and half marathon team titles this past fall, were second among eligible teams with a grade point average of 3.763. The women, who were half marathon runner-ups, ranked fourth with a 3.641 GPA.

Individual all-scholar team honors were awarded to Yiech Pur Biel, Darius Brown, Devon Coon, Adam Gruhn, Brayan Silva, Chase Smith, Andrew Wilson, Rosalie Fish, Chloe Lenoir and Josie Stackis. 

"As a coach, it has been incredible to see these young adults adapt and manage everything that has been thrown their way in the last year with the transition to online and virtual learning as well as with all of the challenges and changes to our athletic schedule," Ekel said. "That our students have been able to respond to all of these challenges and produce academically and athletically at the highest level with all of the uncertainty in the world speaks volumes about their character."

-By Dana Becker