BOSTON – Graduate students Kaley Richards (Lowell, Mass.), Jenna Solimine (Haverhill, Mass.) and senior Izzy Giesing (Bradford, Vt.) of the UMass Lowell women's cross country program, have been named to the 2021 America East All-Academic Team, as announced by the conference Wednesday.
 
Out of 10 honorees, the River Hawks led America East with a conference-best three selections. Only two other institutions earned multiple nods, with Vermont and Binghamton getting two apiece.
 
Returning to the River Hawks squad, veteran Richards is a two-time All-Academic team nominee after earning her first All-Academic honor just last season. A three-time America East Commissioner's Honor Roll and two-time AE Honor Roll recipient, the Lowell native has maintained a 3.93 GPA in her pursuit of a Master's in Business Administration.
 
Richards had a steady start to her season, making her debut at the 2021 NEICAAA Cross Country Championship with a 13th place finish in the 5K. She later went on to set a new career-best in the event at the 2021 America East XC Championship, where she placed sixth and earned All-Conference First Team honors en route to the team's second consecutive conference championship. Richards then capped her cross country season at the NCAA Division I Northeast Region Championship with a personal-best time of 21:28.0 in the 6K.
 
Classmate Solimine joins Richards on the All-Academic squad for the first time in her collegiate career. The three-time America East Commissioner's Honor Roll and 2018 America East Honor Roll recipient boasts a 3.85 GPA in her graduate studies in business.
 
A pivotal part of the River Hawks' back-to-back championship squad, the Haverhill native ran a personal-best in the 5K at the 2021 AE Cross Country Championships to finish seventh overall and help clinch the title once again. For her performance, Solimine was named All-Conference First Team.
 
Environmental science major Giesing finds her way to the All-Academic crew for the second consecutive season. The senior is a three-time America East Commissioner's Honor Roll nominee and has appeared on the Dean's List at UMass Lowell in every semester of her college career.
 
Excelling in the classroom and on the course, Giesing set a number of personal bests this season. Starting at the 2021 Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational, she registered a personal-best time of 22:15.2 in the 6K in the stacked field. The distance runner followed up her personal best with a career-best time in the 5K at the 2021 conference championships, where she finished fourth to help UMass Lowell claim its second consecutive title. With her finish, she joined Richards and Solimine on the All-Conference First Team.