Sathre Named Scholar Athlete of the Year

St. Thomas' Ben Sathre wasn't just the nation's best small college cross country runner in 2011.

Yesterday, the NCAA Division III champion was named the division's Men’s Scholar Athlete of the Year, by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Sathre (pictured), a senior from Chaska, sports a 3.40 cumulative GPA in History and Education through the 2011 fall semester.

USTFCCCA Scholar Athletes of the Year are determined from among those who earned All-Academic status and placed highest individually at the most recent NCAA Championships.

Sathre is the third Minnesota harrier to earn the Division III Scholar Athlete of the Year since the inception of the award in 2006. In 2007, Chris Erichsen of St. John's won the honor. The year before, Minnetonka High School graduate Will Leer was the recipient while a student at Pomona-Pitzer.

Read the USTFCCCA media release about Sathre HERE.

Photo courtesy of the University of St. Thomas.