Woolnough Named CoSIDA First Team All-America

AUSTIN, Texas – Utah ccross country and track & field standout Cara Woolnough continues to cement her legacy on The Hill and named CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America on Tuesday by the national organization.
 
Woolnough, who recently graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA in biomedical engineering, becomes the fifth Woman of Utah to earn this distinction and just the second time someone from the cross country and track & field team has earned first-team honors. She is also the only Utah student-athlete to earn First Team Academic All-America honors this academic year while Britain Covey (Football), Sam Hendry (Skiing) and Abby Paulson (Gymnastics) all earned second team honors.
 
The Brisbane, Australia, native closed out her career with second-team All-America honors after finishing 12th overall at the NCAA Championships in the 5000m. Prior to the final race of her career, Woolnough became just the third student-athlete from the U to receive the NCAA Elite 90 Award. Woolnough has now racked up 15 academic awards in her career at the U – including five this season alone.
 
After opting out of the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19, Woolnough returned stateside from her home in Australia and has since been on a tear in 2021-22. She started the year helping Utah win the Dellinger Invitational before taking second at the FSU Invite/Pre-Nats race. She then garnered First-Team All-Pac-12 honors after finishing seventh overall at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships to help the Women of Utah place second – which was the program's highest finish ever since joining the league. Woolnough then garnered All-Mountain Region honors after finishing in the top-25 before setting a new PR at the NCAA Championships.
 
Woolnough opened the indoor season with a victory in the 5000m race and jumped into fourth all-time at Utah before moving into third all-time at the end of the indoor season with a runner-up finish at the Pac-12 Invitational. She broke into the top-10 at Utah in the 3000m this season as well.
 
The outdoor season kicked off with a bang for Woolnough after she won the 1500m run with the seventh-fastest time at Utah. Two races later, Woolnough broke the school record in the 5000m at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a time of 15:40.52. The following week, Woolnough added to the outdoor record books running a leg on the 4x1600m relay team that took second with a school record time of 19:11.37. Woolnough then closed out the season with a fourth-place finish in the 5K at the conference meet before taking second in her heat to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships.
 
UTAH WOMEN'S XC/TF COSIDA ALL-AMERICANS
YEAR     NAME (TEAM)
2003       Brooke LoBue (3rd)
2008       Lauren Enderson (3rd)
2009       Lauren Enderson (1st)
2014       Rosalie Waller (3rd)
2022       Cara Woolnough (1st)
 
For the latest news and information on the Utah cross country and track & field programs, fans can stay connected online at www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
 
###