June 5, 2009

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Three Belmont men’s cross country and track and field athletes were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second Team.  Senior Caleb Swartz (Radcliff, Ky.), junior Kip Hill (Liberty, Mo.), and sophomore Will Peters (Carmel, Ind.) each received the first nod of their respective careers.  This is the most ever selected from the men’s cross country and track and field teams in a single academic year.

Swartz recorded a total of 12 top-12 finishes during the 2008-09 indoor and outdoor seasons.  During the 2008 cross country season, the senior won the Belmont Cross Country Opener (15:14.63), beating 87 other runners in the 5K race and helped lead the Bruins to a second-place finish at the Atlantic Sun Cross Country Championships later in the fall.  For his efforts, Radcliff, Ky., native was named First Team All-Atlantic Sun in 2008.  During his career, Swartz, who was tabbed the conference’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year in 2005, was tabbed A-Sun Runner of the Week twice.  The seven-time Atlantic Sun All-Academic team honoree set a new program record in the 3000m at the 2007 Indiana Indoor (8:35.70).  Swartz, who received the Graduating Male Senior Student-Athlete Academic Achievement Award, graduated from Belmont in May with a B.S. in Physics after compiling at 3.85 GPA during his academic career.

Hill recorded a total of 18 top-20 finishes over last two indoor and outdoor track seasons.  The Liberty, Mo., native was the top Belmont finisher in 5000m at the 2009 Ole Miss Open and placed 14th at the 2008 Atlantic Sun Cross Country Championships with a time of 25:33.53.  For his efforts, the junior was named to the Cross Country All-Atlantic Sun Second Team in 2008.  He also helped Belmont to A-Sun Cross Country Championship title in 2007.  Hill, who has a 3.90 GPA with a Political Science major, received the John W. Burgess Award in his major and was inducted into the Alpha Chi National Honor Society.

Peters, who recorded the highest GPA for all male cross country and track and field student-athletes during the 2008-09 academic year, recorded seven top-16 finishes during the indoor and outdoor seasons.  He was named to the 2008 Cross Country All-Atlantic Sun Second Team and placed 11th of 83 runners at the Atlantic Sun Championships with a career-best time of 25:21.10 that same year.  The Carmel, Ind., native finished 78th out of 294 runners at the Louisville Cross Country Classic and helped Belmont win the Atlantic Sun Cross Country Championship title in 2007.  Peters, who recorded a 3.98 GPA in his Chemistry major, was a six-time Atlantic Sun All-Academic Team selection.