CHICAGO – A quartet from the Loyola University Chicago men's and women's track and cross country teams earned 2024-25 Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Communicators, the organization announced Tuesday.
Emma Watcke, Roisin Treacy, James Lawrence and Gabe Smit earned the recognition thanks to their strong performances in competition and their academic excellence.
Watcke, who holds a 3.66 GPA as an International Affairs MA student-athlete, helped Loyola to its third straight Atlantic 10 Women's Cross Country Championship this fall, placing fifth individually in 20:45.4—a 6K personal best. In indoor track, she won the mile at the Hawkeye Invite (4:47.02), took second in the mile at both the Notre Dame Invitational (4:39.66) and the A-10 Indoor Championships (4:43.75), and helped the DMR to a seventh-place finish. In outdoors, she ran a personal-best 15:57.60 for 10th in the 5K at the Bryan Clay Invitational and took ninth in the 1,500m at the Raleigh Relays (4:17.03). She won the 5K at the A-10 Outdoor Championships (16:54.68) and closed her season at the NCAA Division I West First Round.
Treacy, a psychology major with a 3.63 GPA, also contributed to Loyola's A-10 cross country title, placing seventh in 20:45.5—a 6K PR. She opened her indoor season with a sixth-place mile finish at the Hawkeye Invite and later finished runner-up in the 3K at the A-10 Indoor Championships. In outdoors, she won the steeplechase at both the Mt. SAC Relays (10:14.36) and the A-10 Championships (10:21.56), and also claimed victory in the 1,500m at the Elmhurst Twilight. She ended her season with a 33rd-place finish in the steeplechase at the NCAA Division I West First Round.
Lawrence, an MBA candidate with a 3.68 GPA, began his year with a cross country campaign that included a third-place finish at the A-10 Championships and 14th at the NCAA Midwest Regional—earning USTFCCCA All-Region honors. He opened the track season with a 13:49.18 5K at the BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener, followed by mile wins at the Hawkeye Invite (4:04.52) and Notre Dame Invitational (4:03.32). He placed fourth in the 3K at the Meyo Invitational (7:52.32) and ran 13:34.71 in the 5K at the BU Valentine Invitational. At the A-10 Indoor Championships, Lawrence swept the 3K (8:03.53) and 5K (14:07.52), earning Most Outstanding Track Performer honors. In outdoor competition, he ran a personal-best 27:54.62 in the 10K at the Stanford Invitational and won the 5K at the A-10 Championships in 14:15.04.
Smit rounds out Loyola's All-District selections with a 3.87 GPA in biology. In cross country, he placed 18th at the National Catholic Invitational, 42nd at the Loyola Lakefront Invite, 16th at the A-10 Championships, and 55th at the NCAA Midwest Regional. Indoors, he opened with a third-place 3K finish at the Cougar Alumni Open (8:17.67) and followed with a runner-up 3K at the Hawkeye Invite (8:09.56). He posted strong mile times throughout the season, including a 4:04.70 for fifth at the Meyo Invitational and 4:11.00 for fourth at the A-10 Indoor Championships, where he also helped Loyola's DMR place fifth. In outdoors, he ran the steeplechase in 9:09.38 at the Raleigh Relays, 9:05.53 for 11th at Mt. SAC, and closed with a fourth-place steeple finish at the A-10 Championships (9:02.52), where he also helped the 4x800 relay to sixth.
