Eastern Illinois women's track & field / cross country had three student-athlete earn Academic All-District honors as released by College Sports Communicators this week. 
 
Rylea Borgic, Mikaila Ek and Abby Venhaus all earned the Academic honor as Panther student-athletes. 

Student-athletes must meet the following criteria to be considered for Academic All-District.  From an academic standpoint they must hold a cumulative 3.5 or higher grade point average, if they are a graduate student, a 3.5 or higher must have been maintained for both undergraduate and graduate work.   In their sport of competition, they must be a starter or key reserve having appeared in 90 percent of an institution's games/contests/sets or started in at least 66 percent of the games/contests/sets.  For the sports of cross country and track & field, a student-athlete must have finished in the Top 50 at a NCAA Regional cross country meet or rank in the Top 50 in an event in their region for track & field.  A maximum of six student-athletes per school that meet these criteria may be selected.

Borgic has a 4.00 GPA in Nutrition.  Ek holds a 3.60 GPA in Environmental Biology.  Venhaus has a 3.71 GPA in Exercise Science Pre-Physical Therapy.

The 2026 Academic All-District® Track & Field/Cross Country Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes at-large honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
 
Academic All-District® honorees are considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in the coming weeks.