Full CoSIDA Release

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Senior Samantha Miller of the Union College women's cross country and track & field teams closed out her stellar four-year career by earning a spot on the 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-America Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and announced on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Miller was named to the Academic All-America third team, making her only the 30th student-athlete in Union history to earn the prestigious national recognition. She is also the first Union cross country or track & field competitor (male or female) in school annals to be so honored.
 
The senior was one of only 44 student-athletes nationally to earn a spot on the women's Academic All-America team after competing an excellent four-year career both in competition and in the classroom for the Dutchwomen. She led the cross country team in every race this season as a team captain, while also posting the top two indoor 3,000-meter times and three of the top four outdoor 1,500-meter times as well this year. In her final collegiate races, she ended her respective senior seasons with personal-best times in the 6,000 meters during the cross country season, the 3,000 meters during indoor track and the 1,500 meters during the outdoor track season.
 
Off the course and track, Miller graduated as a valedictorian of the senior class with a perfect 4.00 GPA as a visual arts major and mechanical engineering minor. She earned the Department of Athletics' Award for Academic Excellence this year and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, while also earning the school's Andrew Archibald Prize recognizing the bachelor of arts student with the highest scholastic standing. She will spend next year abroad after earning a prestigious Watson Fellowship for her project, "Poignant Nostalgia: Investigating Architecture Through Abandoned Spaces".