ROLLA, Mo. – Emma Puetz (Rolla, MO/Rolla), who set records during the 2023-24 cross country and track & field seasons at Missouri S&T, has been selected to the Academic All-America team for the past season by the College Sports Communicators.

Puetz, Missouri S&T's women's Student-Athlete of the Year for the past season, was a second-team selection to the 53-member squad for the 2023-24 season and was one of 17 that did so with a 4.0 grade point average.  She majored in geology & geophysics at S&T and received her Master's degree in May 2024 after earning her Bachelor's degree in December 2023 in that major.  Puetz is one of two student-athletes from the Great Lakes Valley Conference to earn Academic All-America honors, as she was joined on the team by Zoe Pentecost from the University of Indianapolis.

During the 2023-24 season, Puetz – who was named as the GLVC's Scholar-Athlete of the Year in women's cross country -- had a record-setting campaign in both sports.  She earned All-GLVC recognition after finishing second at the conference championship meet with a time of 21:45.56, the fastest six-kilometer time ever recorded by a Miner in that sport.  She would break that mark two weeks later with a time of 20:57.05 at the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional, where she earned all-region honors with a 13^th place finish.

During the regular season, Puetz was named as the GLVC's Runner of the Week three times during a campaign in which she won the race at the Larry Young Invitational in Columbia, finished second twice and had a third place finish at another meet.  Not only did she establish a new S&T record in a six-kilometer race, she also broke the five-kilometer record during the season with a time of 17:41.

In the spring, Puetz added another record to her resume by shattering the mark in the outdoor 5,000-meters with a time of 17:27.85 that broke the previous record by 15 seconds during the Dewey Allgood Invitational.  At the GLVC Outdoor Championships, she recorded third place finishes in the 1,500- and 5,000-meter events – setting a seasonal-best time in the 1,500 of 4:38.69 in the process.

In the classroom, Puetz earned spots on Missouri S&T's Dean List in every semester she attended the university.  She is the 122^nd Missouri S&T student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors and second this year, and the ninth from the women's track & field and cross country programs to do so.  She is the first in the women's track and cross country program to earn the honor since Katlyn Meier was named after the 2014-15 season.

The CSC will announce the Academic All-America team for men's track & field on Wednesday.