GREENWOOD, Ind. – Recent Air Force graduate Zach Ayers was honored as a First-Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators this morning (July 14), as the CSC announced the 2026 Academic All-America Division I Men’s Track & Field / Cross Country Team. Ayers, a native of Davis, Calif., completed his academic career with a 3.53 GPA in geospatial science. With today’s honor, he is the 21st Falcon to be named an Academic All-American by the CSC (formerly CoSIDA) for track & field and cross country – and the sixth to capture First-Team status.
A standout distance runner, Ayers capped his collegiate career with an appearance in the first round of the 5000-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The 2026 Mountain West runner-up in that event, Ayers recorded the second-fastest outdoor time in Air Force history (13:31.45) at the Bryan Clay Invitational. He also accounted for the sixth-fastest indoor performance with a 13:41.44 (adjusted for altitude) during a scoring finish at the indoor conference meet. During the cross country season, Ayers claimed all-MW honors for the second-straight year and earned the Falcons’ No. 2 spot in every postseason race, including a finish that helped the men to a top-20 finish at the NCAA Championships.
To date, 21 Falcons have been named an Academic All-American a total of 25 times, as Ayers 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), India Jones (2025) and Jason Renze (2025).
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.
