Claire Davis, Igna Mendez, Amelia Mitchell, and Evie Sanford ave been named College Sports Communicators' Academic All-District® for women's cross country and track and field, as announced by the national organization on Tuesday.
Davis, a sophomore, was a key scorer at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. Her career-best triple jump of 34 feet, 2.25 inches was fifth in the conference, and she was part of the program's fifth-place 4x100 relay that crossed at 50.28. During the indoor conference meet, Davis was part of the program's fifth-place 4x200 relay that crossed at 1:47.60. Her triple jump of 31 feet, 4 inches ranked eighth in the conference. At the All-Ohio Championships, Davis was a scorer at both the indoor and outdoor meets. In outdoor, Davis scored a fifth-place finish on the 4x100 relay (51.42) and an eighth-place finish in the triple jump (31 feet, 3.75 inches). At the indoor championship, her triple jump of 33 feet, 4.75 inches was sixth in the field.
The biology and neuroscience major is a member of Wooster Minorities in STEM and the College's Greenhouse Club. Davis is part of the Wooster Adopted Students Union. She has worked at Worldly Pets back home in Massachusetts.
Mendez, a recent alumna, earned All-NCAC honors in the 800 meters with a career-best 2:20.16. That was nearly two seconds faster than her 2:22.08 from the preliminary heats, and she was seeded eighth heading into the final. Mendez helped Wooster's 4x400 relay to fourth with a time of 4:02.79 at the outdoor conference championships. At the indoor conference meet, Mendez was on Wooster's fourth-place 4x400 relay that crossed at 4:09.39 and she scored as part of the eighth-place distance medley relay that finished at 14:00.45. At the All-Ohio Championships, Mendez scored as the seventh-place finisher in the 800 meters. In that race, she posted a 2:20.71.
The two-time CSC Academic All-District® honoree is an economics alumna. Her Independent Study focused on how longer recovery times after surgeries can increase gender inequality within households. Mendez was a teaching assistant for two economics courses and was a STEM Zone intern for calculus courses and econometrics. Through these positions Mendez held office hours, review sessions, graded problem sets, and helped students comprehend the course materials. Mendez was a front desk assistant for the College's Academic Resource Center. In 2023, she was a Bread for the World intern. She introduced anti-hunger work to college students and recent graduates for the internship program. Through International Student Services, Mendez was Chile's ambassador. She was awarded a stipend to research the country's social, political, and economic status and gave several presentations on her findings to various stakeholders. Mendez was involved with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Mendez will be pursuing a master's in quantitative economics at Boston University.
Mitchell joined the track and field team as a senior and was a key contributor. She was part of Wooster's fourth-place 4x400 relay (4:02.79) at the NCAC Championships and took seventh in the high jump after clearing 4 feet, 10.25 inches. During the indoor season, Mitchell took fifth on the 4x200 relay (1:47.60) and was sixth in the high jump, getting over the crossbar at 4 feet, 11.5 inches at conference. She cleared 4 feet, 8.25 inches to take sixth in the high jump at the outdoor All-Ohio Championships and went 26.11 for eighth in the 200 meters.
In volleyball, Mitchell was an All-NCAC third-team selection after tallying 310 kills and 2.74 kills per set. She was second in the NCAC in blocks with 101 and blocks per set at 0.89 and served up a conference-best 46 aces. Mitchell was a two-time CSC Academic All-District® honoree in volleyball.
The computer science alumna looked at how video game controllers affect accessibility and user experience for her Independent Study. She researched wireless communication with drones and how to improve scheduling as an intern at Applied Unmanned Systems in 2024. A summer prior, Mitchell was part of a research experience for undergraduates at the University of Louisville. There, she did preliminary research on a STONNE simulator and focused on improving and exploiting cache memory. Mitchell worked on campus as a student technology associate and took part in the Northeast Ohio Student Venture Fund pitch initiative. Mitchell studied abroad through the College's TREK program in Argentina.
Sanford won the shot put at the NCAC Outdoor Championships, upping a school record to 43 feet, 9.25 inches. It marked the junior's third time winning the shot put at the conference meet and first time during the outdoor season. Sanford's discus of 124 feet was fourth within the NCAC. At the indoor championships, Sanford was the shot put runner-up, having a best of 41 feet, 0.25 inch. The junior's weight throw of 43 feet, 8.5 inches ranked fifth in the conference. Sanford was a shot put and discus scorer at the outdoor All-Ohio Championships with distances of 38 feet, 8.75 inches and 121 feet, respectively.
The environmental geoscience major is a two-time CSC Academic All-District® selection. Sanford spent last summer as a research associate on the College's Browns Lake Bog project and in the tree ring lab. Sanford prepared tree cores for dendrochronological analysis on mountain hemlocks and red cedars from various sites in Glacier Bay, Alaska to examine the developing climate. Sanford analyzed past and recently-collected lake cores for evidence of diatoms, sponge spicules, and silt deposits to help reconstruct possible evidence about climate events. Elsewhere, Sanford was a teaching assistant for a sedimentology and stratigraphy course and was an office assistant for Scovel, supporting the philosophy, geology, and pre-law departments. Sanford was a sustainability intern and a STEM Zone intern for several courses. Sanford is set to take over as the president of the geology club on campus after serving as the outreach chair this academic year.
Each school with a CSC membership may submit up to five Academic All-District® honorees for women's cross country and track and field. Each nominee must have at least a 3.50 GPA and be at least a sophomore in academic standing. Nominees must be ranked in the top-50 in an individual event for track and field within the region or have placed in the top-50 at the cross country regional meet.
