NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rising senior Nick Laning became the first Vanderbilt men’s cross country student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Thursday.
Laning was named to the third team. He is one of two Commodores to earn academic All-America honors in 2020-21 joining Christina Rosca of women’s tennis (second team).
The last Vanderbilt cross country or track and field athlete to earn the distinction was Simone Charley in 2017.
Laning holds a 3.98 GPA as a civil engineering major. In 2019 he was just the second Vanderbilt man to earn all-SEC honors in cross country and the first since 1966.
The 2020 SEC Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Laning is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District award recipient. The Barrington, Illinois, native, who was also an all-region selection in addition to his second-team all-conference honors in 2019, was a USTFCCCA All-Academic recipient last season as well.
