Courtesy of Valerie Perkin/Air Force Athletics
AUSTIN, Texas – Recent Air Force graduate Jason Renze was honored as a First-Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators this morning (July 16), as the CSC announced the 2025 Academic All-America Division I Men’s Track & Field / Cross Country Team.
Renze, a native of Madrid, Iowa, is the 20th Falcon to be selected as an Academic All-American by the CSC (formerly CoSIDA) for track & field and cross country – and the fifth to capture First-Team status.
A standout in the 3000-meter steeplechase during the outdoor season, Renze returned to the podium at the Mountain West Championships and qualified to the NCAA Championships for the third-straight year. The (then-) senior clocked the fifth-fastest time in Air Force history at the Bryan Clay Invitational, as he used a time of 8:41.69 to finish fourth out of 98 runners and rank 16th in the region. In addition to finishing third in the steeplechase at the MW Outdoor Championships, Renze also scored for the Falcons in the 3000-meter run at the conference’s indoor meet after posting the sixth-fastest time in program history (7:54.56a) to finish seventh. Although illness kept him from the first half of the cross country season, Renze returned to the lineup for the final three meets and capped his year as the Falcons’ No. 2 finisher at the NCAA Mountain Regional (45th).
To date, 20 Falcons have been named an Academic All-American 24 times, as Renze joined Mary Manning (1984-1985), Chris Nelson (1991-1992), Nick Wilson (2006), Kenny Grosselin (2008), Brittany Morreale (2010), Matthew Bell (2013), Jeremy Drenckhahn (2013), Rebecca Esselstein (2013-2014-2015), Josh Nielsen (2014), Taylor Smith (2016), Katie Burnham (2018), Lindsey Blanks (2020), Mitch Lipe (2020), Greg Skage (2021). Sean Geither (2022), Katie Thompson (2023), Brian Hubbard (2024), Philip Hundl (2024) and India Jones, who was named to the 2025 women’s team yesterday, on the prestigious list.
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, student-athlete must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher on a scale of 4.00, be at least a sophomore academically, and meet specific athletic requirements (cross country – top 50 finish at the NCAA regional meet; track & field – top 50 regional rankings in at least one event, indoor or outdoor). These student-athletes, nominated by their sports information director, are named Academic All-District and advance to the national ballot, where CSC committee members vote on the Academic All-America teams within each division.
