Northwest Missouri State track and field senior Marcus Klein earned prestigious First-Team Academic All-America® honors as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
 
Klein (Harlan, Iowa) becomes only the ninth Bearcat track and field/cross country competitor, and the first since 2005, to secure Academic All-America® in program history. Klein is also the sixth of those to earn first-team status joining Bob Sundell (1989), Robby Lane (1999), Tucker Woolsey (2002) and Clint Prange (2003, 2005).
 
Klein registered a 3.98 grade point average in mathematics. In this past season's indoor campaign, Klein jumped 7.45 meters to earn the 10th-best jump in the nation. His best leap of the year came at the Gorilla Classic on Feb. 14. Klein is a two-time indoor national championship qualifier and a one-time outdoor qualifier. Klein secured All-America honors in the long jump at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. 
 
The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2019-20 Division II Academic All-America® teams program. Despite the cancellation of spring competition during COVID-19, CoSIDA continued its sponsorship of the Academic All-America awards program. Student-athletes were selected based on career statistics.
 
Since the inception of the Academic All-America® program, Klein is the 38th Northwest student-athlete overall to achieve Academic All-America® recognition. He is also the 19th Bearcat overall to earn first-team status. (CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST)
 
For more information on the Academic All-America® program, go to https://academicallamerica.com/.
 
Northwest's Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America® Selections
1989    Bob Sundell                 1^st Team          Men's At-Large (Track & Field)
1997    Kathy Kearns               2^nd Team         Women's At-Large (Cross Country)
1998    Robby Lane                 3^rd Team         Men's At-Large (Cross Country)
1999    Robby Lane                 2^nd Team         Men's At-Large (Cross Country)
1999    Robby Lane                 1^st Team          Men's At-Large (Track & Field)
2002    Tucker Woolsey          1^st Team          Men's Track & Field/Cross Country
2003    Clint Prange                1^st Team          Men's Track & Field/Cross Country
2005    Clint Prange                1^st Team          Men's Track & Field/Cross Country
2020    Marcus Klein               1^st Team          Men's Track & Field/Cross Country