2020-21 CoSIDA Academic All-American Track and Field/Cross Country Teams
In her final collegiate season in 2020-21, Maryssa Depies earned All-American status on the track to cap an excellent career.
Now, the graduated senior women's cross country and track and field athlete from Hillsdale College has earned another prestigious national award.
Depies (Muskegon, MI/Reeths-Puffer) was one of just 16 female NCAA Division II track and field/cross country athletes to be named to the 2020-21 College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America first team for her sport, as announced this Wednesday afternoon.
The distance runner is just the 19th Hillsdale College athlete to earn Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA. The organization has been handing out the award since 1952, recognizing the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
Depies becomes the fourth Charger track and field athlete to receive the distinction in the 69-year history of the program, joining John Dorsch (1997), Sara Petta (1997) and Emily Oren (2016).
The senior was a standout for the Chargers for the past four seasons in both cross country and track and field. Depies earned All-American honors at the 2021 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in March in Birmingham, Alabama, taking eighth place in the mile (4:57.82). During her track and field career, she won the 2019 G-MAC Outdoor championship in the 5,000m run, and was an eight-time placer in G-MAC track and field meets, five times indoor and three times outdoor.
While her All-American moment came in track and field, Depies' most consistent success for the Chargers came on the cross country course. A mainstay for the Charger harriers throughout her career, Depies earned first-team All-G-MAC honors in cross country in all four seasons she competed, and never finished lower than fourth in a G-MAC Championship meet, including a runner-up finish as a sophomore in 2018.
Depies helped the Chargers win two G-MAC titles in cross country and qualify for three straight NCAA Division II national meets from 2017-2019, a streak that only ended when Covid-19 canceled fall championships at the NCAA Division II level in 2020. She also twice earned All-Midwest Region honors in cross country, missing the chance to earn a third honor in 2020 because of Covid-19 as well.
In the classroom, Depies was impressive as well, graduating Summa Cum Laude this past spring with a 3.93 GPA and a degree in Biochemistry. She was a two-time recipient of the Hillsdale President's Scholar-Athlete Award and also received the prestigious LAUREATES scholarship for biochemistry research as a senior. During her time at Hillsdale she was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Zeta honoraries, the Pre-Professional Society and the Catholic Society.
Depies is currently attending Butler University and pursuing a Master's degree in Physician Associate studies, with the goal of becoming a practicing PA in her home state of Michigan following graduation.
She's one of five female cross country/track and field athletes from the Midwest Region to earn first-team All-American honors at the Division II level in 2021, and one of two G-MAC athletes, joining Rachel Sweeney of Cedarville in receiving the honor.