Harden Earns CoSIDA Academic All-American Honor
CoSIDA Release | TU Honors Page
AUSTIN, Texas - Sarah Harden earned a spot on the CoSIDA NAIA Cross Country/Track and Field Academic All-America Second-Team as voted on and announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
The 21-member list of First and Second-Team Academic All-Americans consisted of student-athletes from around the NAIA and recognized individuals for academic and athletic accomplishments. Stats and honors from the individual's 2020-2021 season were considered.
Harden collected her first CoSIDA Academic All-America honor after posting a 3.81 grade-point average in exercise science. The senior also collected USTFCCCA All-Academic honors and will earn NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors later this fall for her work in the classroom.
During her senior cross county and track seasons, the Arlington Heights, Illinois native earned two more All-American honors, tallying a total of 10 All-American awards in her four-year collegiate career. Harden finished 16th place at the NAIA Cross Country Nationals and fifth place in the 5,000-meters at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. In her final year at Taylor, Harden set four new records for the record books, including TU's cross country 5,000-meter record, the indoor track and field 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter records, and Taylor's outdoor track 5,000-meter record. Following her senior year, Harden was named Taylor University's Natalie Steele Award winner.
Taylor has had five student-athletes earn the CoSIDA Academic All-American honor in 2020-2021, including Teegan Heiniger of men's lacrosse, Vincent Miranda of men's basketball, Luke Rovenstine and Alex Helmuth of men's cross country/track and field. Taylor University led all NAIA colleges in 2020-2021 with 36 CoSIDA Academic All-District awards.
The Trojans now have 98 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in Taylor school history, with 96 awards since 2010.
Harden's CoSIDA All-American honor is the 19th award for the TU women's track and cross country programs.
The CoSIDA Academic All-American award is designed to recognize student-athletes for outstanding achievements in the classroom, as well as on the court or field of play. In order to be eligible for the honor, an athlete must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30, must have reached sophomore status academically with at least one full year at their current institution and must have participated in over half of the team's competitions as a key contributor during the current season.
Student-athletes are nominated for the award by their institution's Sports Information Department and voted on by members of CoSIDA.