PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State middle distance runner Matthew Swanson has been named to the 2016-17 All-Academic District 8 Men's Cross Country/Track & Field Team presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
 
Swanson is a graduate student from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, pursuing his Masters in Business Administration after earning an undergraduate degree in Finance in May 2016. His undergraduate cumulative grade point average was 3.85 and he has a graduate studies GPA of 3.94. On the track, Swanson has competed in events from the 60m dash to the 800m run with an occasional 400m hurdles thrown in. He is currently competing in the 800m at the NCAA West Region Preliminary Rounds in Austin, Texas.
 
He is the 2017 Pac-12 Conference Postgraduate Scholarship recipient for WSU. Swanson was one of 19 seniors honored with the 2017 WSU Athletics Senior Excellence in Academics Award. He is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic First Team member, a USTFCCCA National All-Academic team member, a nine-time WSU President's Honor Roll honoree and has been on the WSU Athletics All-Academic team every semester. Swanson ran a season-best time in the 800m of 1 minute 50.10 seconds for fifth place at the Pac-12 Championships. He is the team leader in the 400m dash with a time of 48.21 seconds and was the anchor on the 4x400m relay team.
 
The 2016-17 Academic All-District® Men's Track & Field/Cross Country Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. The CoSIDA Academic All-District ® teams are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. WSU is a member of District 8 which includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawai'i, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Canada.
 
Swanson is one of 10 men selected as First team Academic All-District 8 honorees (listed below), all of whom advance to the Academic All-America Team National ballot, where first, second and third team selections will be announced next month.
 
CoSIDA District 8 Men's Cross Country/Track & Field Team
NCAA Division I
Clayton Albertson, Arizona State, Clovis, Calif. (Sr.) 4.00 GPA/3.86 Grad GPA, Exercise & Wellness
Aaron Castle, Arizona, Newport, Wash. (Sr.) 3.78 GPA, Biology
Cody Danielson, Oregon, Newberg, Ore. (Sr.) 3.62 GPA, General Science
Tyler Day, Northern Arizona, Gilbert, Ariz. (So.) 3.87 GPA, Journalism
Grant Fisher, Stanford, Grand Blanc, Mich. (So.) 3.49 GPA, Undeclared
Nick Heath, Pepperdine, Scotts Valley, Calif. (So.) 3.98 GPA, Business Administration
Jack Keelan, Stanford, La Grange Park, Ill. (Jr.) 3.55 GPA, Product Design
Sam Prakel, Oregon, Versailles, Ohio (Jr.) 3.90 GPA, Biochemistry
Matthew Swanson, Washington State, N. Vancouver, B.C., Canada (Grad.) 3.85 GPA/3.94 GPA, MBA
Devin Wright, Utah State, Monticello, Utah (Sr.) 3.94 GPA, Biology