University Park, Pa. — Senior Ryan Foster (Tasmania, Australia) has been named to the Capital One Academic All-America Track and Field/Cross Country Team, announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), on Tuesday (June 21).
Foster recently wrapped up a sensational Nittany Lion career, finishing with a grand total of four Big Ten titles, and three NCAA All-America finishes. Foster is the fifth Penn State student athlete to be selected to the Capital One Academic All-America First Team during the 2010-11 academic year, and is the only First Team Track and Field selection from the Big Ten Conference. The senior is also the 172nd Nittany Lion to earn First Team Academic All-America honors – the most of any Big Ten institution and the third-highest total of any program in the NCAA.
Foster ends his career with the most Big Ten titles of any Nittany Lion on the men’s side, cruising to three-straight victories in the 800-meters at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, to go along with an outdoor title in the event in 2009. The senior will also leave Happy Valley with five Penn State records to his credit, including the 800-meters (1:47.32), 1000-meters (2:19.60), mile run (3:58.49), and distance medley relay indoors (9:32.94), as well as the sprint medley relay (3:17.10) outside.
Nationally speaking, Foster is a seven-time NCAA qualifier in cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field, totaling three All-America finishes on his career, including a pair of bronze-medal efforts. Most recently, Foster captured third place in the mile run at the NCAA Indoor Championships, qualifying via a school-record 3:58.49 for the event. The senior would also clock a season-best 2:19.96 for the 1,000-meters indoors – the fastest time among collegians for the 2011 season.
A two-year team captain, Foster was a member of Penn State’s winning sprint-medley relay at Penn Relays this spring, anchoring the Nittany Lions to their first Penn Relays’ victory since 1987, and the first win in the event since 1942. The team also clocked a school-record 3:17.10 for the event. Foster would come back to run a leg on the Nittany Lions’ second-place 4×800-meter relay at Penn, which clocked a sizzling 7:12.90 – the seventh-fastest time in collegiate history.
Foster is scheduled to graduate with a degree in economics this summer.
