From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Case Western Reserve University seniors David Hall (Stow, Ohio / Stow-Munroe Falls) and Brian Holden (Haworth, N.J. / Northern Valley Regional) were each named to the 2019-20 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Men's Track & Field/ Cross Country Team, as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon, for their academic and athletic achievements throughout their career.
Hall was named to the First Team, while Holden was selected to the Third Team. Hall was one of 14 repeat winners of the award, after he was named to the Second Team last year, while Holden secured the honor for the first time in his career.
It's the 11th and 12th time that a CWRU men's cross country/ track and field member has claimed the honor, and Hall is the first from the program to be selected to the Academic All-America First Team since former Spartan Sam Merriman received the honor in both 2017 and 2018.
Hall and Holden are the eighth and ninth Spartans this year to be named an Academic All-American, joining Anika Washburn (women's soccer), Karley King (volleyball), Dee Gose (football), Travis Johnston (football), Andrew Lease (football), Ilissa Hamilton (softball) and Matthew Chen (men's soccer). In addition, the nine selections during the 2019-20 academic year are the most for the university since the award was introduced during the 1973-74 year. Case Western Reserve University athletes across all sports have now accumulated 119 total Academic All-America awards.
Hall is a two-time NCAA Cross Country Championship participant, placing 87th in 2018 and 176th in 2019. He earned All-Region honors with a 16th-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional in 2018, and narrowly missed out on repeating the honor this year, placing 37th at the meet. Hall has been among the team's top-five finishers in each of the last 14 races he has competed in, including three top-finishes on the team and eight top-two finishes.
Academically, Hall has a 3.97 cumulative grade point average as a Mathematics major at CWRU. He is a two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic honoree, and has received UAA All-Academic recognition eight times over his career, between cross country and track and field. Hall is also a two-time Van Horn Society inductee, and has been named to the Dean's High Honors List throughout his academic career.
In addition, Hall was selected as a fall recipient of the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, awarded to student-athletes across all three NCAA divisions who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.
Holden completed a stellar career at Case Western Reserve as one of the Spartans top throwers. He is the school-record holder in the javelin (59.54m), and has garnered two All-UAA honors and one UAA Championship over his career. In 2018-19, Holden was named All-Great Lakes Region in the javelin.
Academically, Holden has a 3.94 cumulative grade point average as a Mechanical Engineering major at Case Western Reserve University. He has earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors and has earned UAA All-Academic honors six times over his career. Holden is also a two-time Van Horn Society inductee.
Despite the cancellation of spring competition as a result of COVID-19, CoSIDA continued its sponsorship of the Academic All-America awards program. Student-athletes were selected based on career statistics/results, as opposed to a focus on the current season.