CSC RELEASE

AUSTIN, Texas – Two Lady Flames were listed among the 2024-25 Academic All-America® women's track and field/cross county teams selected by College Sports Communicators (CSC) Tuesday afternoon. Liezl Theron earned a spot on the Second Team, while Aria Hawkins landed on the Third Team.

Theron graduated this spring with a GPA of 3.62 in Biological Sciences. The native of Pretoria, South Africa, completed the outdoor season as First Team All-American after placing second in the high jump. She was the South Region's top performer in the high jump with a clearance of 1.73 meters. Theron also was 14^th in the long jump at 5.55 meters and 16^th in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.78 seconds. She accumulated 1,750 points in the Heptathlon to finished 33^rd in the region.

During the indoor season, Theron had the second-best performance in the high jump with a clearance of 1.71 meters, was second in the Pentathlon with 3,607 points and tied for fifth with a long jump of 5.54 meters. She was 14^th among South Region performers in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.12 seconds. Theron was 43^rd in the shot put with a season-best throw of 9.58 meters and 47^th in the 800-meter run (2:33.38).

Hawkins has posted a 3.57 GPA as a Psychology major. She completed the 2024 NCAA Division II South Region Cross Country Championships at 20:32.3 to win the individual title two weeks after winning the Gulf South Conference Championship with a time of 20:45.3.

During the indoor season, Hawkins recorded the top time in the South Region in three events. She posted a time of 2:09.85 in the 800-meter run, 4:41.36 in the Mile and 9:19.54 in the 3000-meter run. Hawkins earned First Team All-American honors in the 3000 after placing third at the 2025 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships. She earned another First Team All-American nod as part of Lee's Distance Medley Relay team that finished sixth.

Eligible nominees were based off TFRRS regional performance rankings at the time of nomination. Note: Only individual ranked performances were to be used for eligibility. If a student-athlete has participated in a relay event, that can bolster the nomination but the basic criteria to be met is for individual performances. Relays cannot be the basis for eligibility.

• NCAA institutions: 
  • Cross Country - Top-50 individual performance at the 2024 NCAA regional competition 
  • Track - Top-50 regional ranking in single event (indoor or outdoor) 

Student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically. An undergraduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale). A graduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) as both an undergraduate and a grad student unless they are in their first semester as a graduate student and don't have an established graduate GPA. The cumulative grade point average may not be rounded up to 3.50.

The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. 

The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist the College Sports Communicators with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the Division II Academic All-America® program.