Helder, Magness and Stephenson Named CoSIDA Academic All-District

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State athletes Melanie Helder, Jenna Magness and Trevor Stephenson were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Track & Field/Cross Country Team, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America on Thursday.
 
For Helder, this is the first Academic All-District selection for the fourth-year women’s distance runner. A member of the 2019 and 2020 Big Ten Women’s Cross Country Championship teams, Helder recently earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with a 3.98 GPA. She is also a four-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and five-time Academic All-Big Ten recipient. Last month, she was named one of three MSU President’s Award winner, given to the graduating senior student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average and who has exhausted their eligibility and completed their degree in the 2021-22 academic year. The Spartan also qualified for her first NCAA East Preliminary Round this spring with a 4:18.09 time in the women’s 1500m.
 
Magness is a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection for the second-straight season, as the women’s distance runner also earned the accolade last spring. Magness posted a 3.55 GPA during her five years at MSU, graduating earlier this month with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. The five-time NCAA All-American has won back-to-back Big Ten 5000m titles in both indoor and outdoor season, and claimed the B1G 10,000m title earlier this month in her first race at the distance. The 2021 Great Lakes Region Cross Country Athlete of the Year and the 2022 B1G Track Athlete of the B1G Outdoor Championships, Magness holds the women’s program record for both the outdoor and indoor 5000m.
 
Stephenson, who just secured a spot in the NCAA men’s pole vault finals for the second-straight outdoor season, also received Academic All-District honors for the first time. Recently earning his bachelor’s degree in marketing with a 3.60 GPA, Stephenson was named a MSU Scholar-Athlete last month for the second time in his career after having the top GPA in the men’s track and field program. Stephenson is a four-time placer at the Big Ten Championships between indoor and outdoor seasons, and earned Second Team All-American honors at both the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships and the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships.
 
Stephenson…