Williamsburg, KY – Garnering national attention for her hard work on the track and in the classroom, Patriots runner Lisa Voyles etched her name on the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team, announced by CoSIDA officials on Thursday.

She becomes the just the third UC women's runner to earn the award joining Sarah Hunter and Evelyn Moore, who were both two-time honorees.  It also marks the third straight year that Cumberlands has placed at least one on this team.

Voyles is coming off of one of the most successful seasons in program history, excelling in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track.  The Danville, KY native etched her named in all three phases beginning with the cross country, where she earned Mid-South Conference Runner of the Year honors and was a NAIA All-American.  Voyles placed 14^th at nationals, which is the second highest finish in program history as she crossed the line in 18:13.1.  That time is the ninth fastest 5k time in program history and the fastest time since 2014.

After a successful transition to indoor season, Voyles excelled qualifying for nationals in 1,000 meters.  The Danville, KY native crossed the line in 2:57.87 in the prelims to be the top-seed heading into the finals.  Two days later, Voyles dropped four seconds over the five-lap race and pulled away to clock a 2:53.71 to become the first NAIA National Champion in program history.  The second-year runner pulled away during the final 200-meters and won the event by three seconds.

Voyles capped off her year with strong performances during the outdoor season.  She recorded a trio MSC all-conference finishes, including winning the 800 meters and anchoring UC's 4x800 relay to the top podium finish.  At the NAIA Outdoor National Championships, Voyles notched a runner-up finish in the 800-meters with a time of 2:11.28. 

She became just the second runner in program history to earn All-American honors in all three disciplines in the same year.

Earning CoSIDA Academic All-District honors makes these student-athletes eligible to earn Academic All-American First-team honors as all Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® ballot. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in early August.

The 2020-21 Academic All-District Track & Field Teams, selected by CoSIDA, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The CoSIDA Academic All-America program separately recognizes at-large honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.

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