Nate Gilbert, Juan Perez of CWRU Named to CSC Academic All-America Second Team
Case Western Reserve University junior Nate Gilbert and graduate student Juan Perez of the men's cross country and track and field teams were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Second Team.
Gilbert is earning his second career Academic All-America honor after being selected to the Second Team last season. It is the first career Academic All-America honor for Perez. Gilbert became the fifth two-time Academic All-American in program history, joining former Spartans Jack Begley (2022, 2023), David Hall (2019, 2020), Sam Merriman (2017, 2018), and Stephen Hrinda (2006, 2007). The CWRU duo are the 17th and 18th honorees in the history of the men's track and field and cross country programs.
Since the inception of the program, 121 CWRU student-athletes have earned 174 Academic All-America selections, including 21 Spartan student-athletes so far this year. The 21 honors match a department best for an academic year, last set during the 2022-23 school year.
Gilbert earned All-Region selection in the fall after placing 31st at the NCAA Cross Country Great Lakes Regional Championship. He was the second Spartan to cross the line in four races and recorded a career-best 8K time of 24:42.9. During the indoor track and field season, he had the sixth-best time in the region in the mile run and 10th-fastest time in the 800-meter run while also placing seventh in the region as a member of the distance medley relay. Outdoors, he ranked 14th in the Great Lakes in the 1500-meter run and 19th in the 800-meter run. A six-time University Athletic Association All-Academic honoree, Gilbert has a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA as a biology and environmental studies double major.
Perez was the UAA Most Outstanding Runner at the 2024 Outdoor Championships, winning the conference title in the 100-meter dash and placing second as a member of the 4x100-meter relay. The relay set a school record with a time of 41.25 seconds, earning Perez his sixth career All-UAA honor. He became the first champion for CWRU in the 100-meter dash since Steve Ims won the title at the 1989 UAA Outdoor Championships. In the Great Lakes Region, Perez had the 21st-fastest time in the 100-meter dash and 26th-fastest time in the 200-meter dash. A doctoral student in the biomedical engineering department, Perez has a graduate GPA of 3.95 and completed his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering with a 3.67 cumulative GPA.
Student-athletes who maintained at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average as a sophomore academically and athletically and ranked in the top 50 in their region in an individual event were eligible for selection. The CSC selected 17 members for its First Team, 17 members for its Second Team, and 14 members for its Third Team out of the 614 student-athletes selected to the Academic All-District Team.
The CSC Academic All-America program separately recognizes men's track and field and cross country honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA. The Division III CSC Academic All-America programs are partially financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structures to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2023-24 Divisions III Academic All-America programs.
The CWRU men's track and field team placed fifth at both the UAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, while the Spartan men's cross country team placed sixth in the conference and fifth in the region. Members of the track and field team broke two school records, one during the indoor season and one during the outdoor season.