LOWELL, Mass. – Graduate student James Kotowski (Stoneham, Mass.) of the UMass Lowell men's track and field team was named the 2025 America East Outdoor Track & Field Male Performer of the Year for the second consecutive year on Tuesday afternoon, while a total of five River Hawks were announced as members of the All-Academic Team. 

Kotowski was also named to the All-Academic Team, making it the second consecutive year that he has earned both honors. Athletically, he won every javelin event he threw in this season, before finishing seventh at the NCAA East First Round in Jacksonville to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Oregon, where he finished eighth with a 75.18m mark to become a First Team All-American. He is the first Male First Team All-American from the America East since 2016. Academically, Kotowski held an undergraduate GPA of 3.67 with a 3.82 GPA in Mechanical Engineering. 

Joining him on the men's All-Academic Team is fellow graduate student Derek Munroe (Tewksbury, Mass.) and senior Luke Stelmach (Sterling, Mass.). Munroe kept up his success on the track and field with another great outdoor season. He set a personal record in the decathlon at this year's America East Outdoor Championship, finishing with 6,801 points for second place overall. He also had personal-bests in the long jump, 110m hurdles and pole vault. In the classroom, he boasted an undergraduate and graduate GPA of 3.62 GPA in Exercise Science.

Stelmach has now earned All-Academic honors four times in his career, after doing so twice in 2024 and now twice in 2025. He proved his versatility once again this season, winning the high jump gold medal at the 2025 America East Outdoor Championship with a personal-best 2.01m mark, while also finishing fourth in the 110m hurdles with a personal-best time of 15.09. He also broke his personal record in both the 400m and javelin throughout the year. He also impressively held a 4.0 GPA while pursuing his degree in Criminal Justice.

For the women, senior Sarah Ross (Agawam, Mass.) and graduate student Alexandria Grasso (North Reading, Mass.) represented the River Hawks on the All-Academic Team. Ross has now earned the distinction a whopping five times in her career, including both cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. At the conclusion of the 2025 America East Outdoor Championship, she was named the Elite 18 Award recipient, which acknowledges student-athletes that exemplify excellence both in their sport and in the classroom, for the fourth time of her career, three of which came during the 2024-25 year. She boasted a 4.0 GPA in Plastics Engineering. On the track, she ranked fourth in the conference in the 5,000m, seventh in the 1,500m and eighth in the 10,000m. She finished fifth in the 5,000m run at this years conference championship (17:03.55) and sixth in the 10,000m (37:06.27).

As for Grasso, she is also no stranger to the All-Academic Team, making her third appearance on the list. As another versatile athlete of the UMass Lowell program, Grasso excelled yet again this past season, breaking the heptathlon school record at the 2025 Outdoor Championship to win the gold medal with 4,907 points. She also finished seventh in the triple jump at the conference meet (11.56m), while concluding her career with a second-place and personal-best performance in the 100m hurdles at the MIT Final Qualifier (13.81) and ranked within the top 10 in the conference in four different events in 2025.