Griffin Easter won the Division I men’s road race May 4 in Richmond, Va., then the Fort Lewis College cyclist was placed on the USA Cycling Collegiate Academic All-American team. Easter, a Spanish major, finished his junior season with a 4.0 grade-point average.
Griffin Easter won the Division I men’s road race May 4 in Richmond, Va., then the Fort Lewis College cyclist was placed on the USA Cycling Collegiate Academic All-American team. Easter, a Spanish major, finished his junior season with a 4.0 grade-point average.Dean Hoffmeyer/Richmond Times-Dispatch file photo

After another strong season of collegiate cycling, Fort Lewis College saw six of its riders earn accolades for their accomplishments in the classroom.

Men’s riders Griffin Easter, Zach Noonan and Max Thilen were selected as USA Cycling Collegiate Academic all-stars. Ivie Crawford, Sofia Gomez Villafane and Jenna MacPherson made the women’s cut.

“We are so proud of our cycling Skyhawks that have been named to the USA Cycling Collegiate Academic All-American team,” FLC cycling coordinator Dave Hagen said in a news release. “As student-athletes that have to devote many hours per week to training and competing, it is great to see that they are just as committed to their studies; they are champions both on and off the bike.”

The all-star team was made up of 41 cyclists from 22 colleges. It is the first year USA Cycling has produced an all-academic team.

Easter, who was the collegiate Division I men’s road race champion, finished with a 4.0 grade-point average while majoring in Spanish. Noonan was third in the men’s road race, and he finished the school year with a 4.0 GPA while studying engineering.

Crawford had a 3.66 GPA, Gomez Villafane had a 3.73, MacPherson carried a 3.89, and Thilen finished with a 3.66.

The FLC cyclists are competing all over the country this summer, and they will meet up again in August for the start of the Skyhawks’ fall season.

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Kuchar an NCAA option for Woman of the Year

Ashley Kuchar, a 5-8 guard from Provo, Utah, eclipsed the 1,000-point mark her senior season at Fort Lewis College.
She finished her FLC career among the top 10 in assists (5. 330), scoring (9. 1,166 points), steals (6. 182) and 3-pointers (3. 195). She finished just outside the top 10 in blocked shots (12. 42) and field goals (11. 408).
She also was the Skyhawks’ student-athlete five times her senior season.
Before it’s all said and done, Kuchar has a chance at one final collegiate honor: NCAA Woman of the Year.
Kuchar is the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, honoring graduating student-athletes who have distinguised themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence and leadership and service.
Kuchar graduated in May with a 3.95 grade-point average in psychology and was an academic All-American as the RMAC Academic Player of the Year.
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