DALLAS — UTSA placed a conference-high four student-athletes on the InTouch Credit Union Conference USA Men's and Women's Track & Field All-Academic Teams, as Olivia Esemena, Charlette Janicek, Andrew Pirog and Steven Thomas were honored Tuesday by the league office.
Student-athletes were nominated by and voted on by the league's athletics academic advising offices.
Esemena is a junior from Arlington, Texas, who carries a 3.91 GPA in accounting and finance. She has received three C-USA Academic Medals and has been named to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll three times, the UTSA President's List (4.0 semester GPA) three times and the Dean's List (3.75 GPA) twice. On the track, she finished fourth in the 100 meters (11.70) and sixth in the 200m (24.32) and ran the third leg on UTSA's third-place 4x100m relay (46.22) at the C-USA Outdoor Championships. She clocked a personal-best time of 11.48 seconds to place third among collegiate competitors in the 100m at the Alumni Muster on April 27 and that time moved her into the No. 4 spot on UTSA's all-time performers list in the event. Esemena sped to a PR time of 7.54 seconds to place fourth in the 60m at the C-USA Indoor in February.
Janicek is a senior from Sealy, Texas, who boasts a 3.85 GPA and will graduate this weekend with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology with a concentration in athletics medicine. A four-time member of the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll, she has earned three C-USA Academic Medals and has been named to the UTSA President's List four times and the Dean's List twice. She won the 3,000m with an 11:12.99 clocking at the FasTrak Invitational in January and posted her career-best time in the event of 10:53.44 at the C-USA Indoor Championships the following month. Janicek competed in five cross country meets last fall and clocked a 19:43 in the 5,000m at the C-USA Championships and a 24:46.8 for 6K at the NCAA South Central Region Championships.
Pirog is a junior out of San Antonio Reagan High School who totes a 3.54 GPA in cybersecurity. He is a three-time member of the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and he has made the UTSA Dean's List and the Honor Roll (3.5 GPA) twice each. At the C-USA Outdoor Championships, he collected the bronze medal in the 400m hurdles with a personal-best time of 51.32 and he anchored the 4x400m relay team to the silver in a season-best time of 3:10.30. An NCAA West Preliminary Round qualifier last year, he posted three additional top-three finishes in the 400m hurdles this season and helped the 4x4 to a win at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight on April 20. Pirog also collected a medal at the C-USA Indoor, as he ran on the distance medley relay squad that placed third in 10:14.65.
Thomas is a senior from Baltimore, Md., who owns a 3.91 GPA and will graduate this weekend with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology with a concentration in exercise physiology. A transfer from Coppin State prior to his junior year, he is a two-time C-USA Academic Medal recipient and he has twice been named to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll. He also has made the UTSA President's List twice and the Dean's List and Honor Roll once apiece. At the C-USA Outdoor Championships, he finished seventh in the hammer throw with a mark of 52.91m (173-7) and eighth in the discus with a 44.09m (144-8) measurement. He turned in PRs in all three throwing events at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight on April 20, as he placed second in the shot put with a 15.94m (52-3 ¾) mark, fifth in the discus with a throw of 47.24m (155-0) and fifth in the hammer with a heave of 54.99m (180-5). Thomas finished fifth in the weight throw (18.35m/60-2 ½) and 11th in the shot put (14.72m/48-3 ½) at the C-USA Indoor.
The UTSA track & field program now has 15 C-USA All-Academic Team selections since joining the league in 2013-14.
2019 InTouch Credit Union Conference USA Men's Track and Field All-Academic Team
Tom Nobles, Charlotte
Nico Menzel, Charlotte
Drake Heinz, Louisiana Tech
Jaquez Torian, Middle Tennessee
James Cole, North Texas
Florian Lussy, North Texas
Charlie Card-Childers, Rice
Sean Bailey, UTEP
Andrew Pirog, UTSA
Steven Thomas, UTSA
Maor Seged, WKU
2019 InTouch Credit Union Conference USA Women's Track and Field All-Academic Team
Kristen Williams, Charlotte
Clarissa Cutliff, FIU
Sherilene Gelderblom, FIU
Anne-Catherine Wasser, Florida Atlantic
Abigail Short, Marshall
Cassidy Adams, North Texas
Zinedine Russell, Rice
Emily Drouin, UAB
Olivia Esemena, UTSA
Charlette Janicek, UTSA
Getter Lemberg, WKU
