12 Illini Track and Field Athletes Earn CSC Academic All-District Honors
June 24, 2026 | Women's Track & Field, Men's Track & Field
NEWS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – 12 University of Illinois track and field athletes (six men and six women) were named to College Sport Communicators Academic All-District At-Large list, the association announced Wednesday (June 24).
To be eligible for the recognition, a nominee must have at least a 3.50 GPA and be at least a sophomore academically and athletically. Eligible nominees will be based off TFRRS regional performance rankings at the time of nomination, and they must be ranked inside the top-50. Only individual ranked performances are 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.
The six men earning the distinction are Jacob Cookinham, Jackson Gilbert, Reece Ihenacho, Cody Johnston, Viktor Morozov and Alex Sohn.
Morozov saw success at both conference meets this season as he was the Big Ten Indoor Champion in the triple jump, 16.31m (53-6 1/4), and the Big Ten silver medalist in the same event outdoors, 16.43m (53-11).
Cookinham became an All-American this season in the shot put for the first time in his career throwing 19.17m (62-10 3/4) to place eighth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. A few weeks earlier he placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships with the school's third-best shot put, 19.22m (63-0 3/4).
Johnston shattered the program record for the indoor pole vault with a 5.70m (18-8 1/4) clearance at the Tyson Invitational. This took down Dean Starkey's program record of 5.65m (18-6 1/2) that had stood since 1989.
Gilbert was a bronze medalist in the 400m at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on the school's second-fastest time. Ihenacho threw the school's eighth-best discus at the Illini Tune-Up, 55.74m (182-10). Sohn tossed a season-best shot put at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, 17.81m (58-5 1/4).
The six women earning the distinction are Oluwatomilayo Akintunde, Kennady Anderson, Katharina Graman, Mia Morello, Elizabeth Ndudi and Rose Yeboah.
Yeboah ended the season as the national runner-up in the high jump both indoors and outdoors while also being the Big Ten champion indoors and the Big Ten silver medalist outdoors. Graman was the silver medalist in the triple jump at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. In addition, she was the only Illini to qualify to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in multiple events (long and triple jump).
Morello cleared the school's second-best pole vault outdoors at the Tom Jones Memorial and indoors as well at the Illini Challenge, 4.50m (14-9). Ndudi was the Big Ten silver medalist outdoors in the long jump, 6.47m (21-2 3/4).
Akintunde threw the program's third-best weight throw, 22.18m (72-9 1/4), at the Big Ten Indoor Championships and the fourth-best hammer throw, 65.19m (213-10) at the Illini Deca-Jam. Anderson was the event winner in the 3000m steeplechase on the program's seventh-fastest time (10:18.80) at the Wake Forest Invitational.
