Adam Pacheck of the University of Rochester combined a strong academic program with a highly successful athletic career to earn Academic All-America honors in 2013-14. He is a resident of Baldwinsville, N.Y. and a graduate of C.W. Baker High School.
Pacheck has been elected to the Capital One Academic All-America Second Team for Men’s Cross Country and Track & Field in Division III. Voting for the honor was conducted by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
CoSIDA chooses individual Academic All-America teams in 10 sports, five apiece for men and women. The organization also selects an At-Large team, which includes those sports that do not have their own individual teams.
To qualify for the team, athletes must be of sophomore standing or higher and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or higher on a 4.00 scale.
Pacheck earned a total of 12 varsity letters in his undergraduate career – four apiece for cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. He was a three-time NYSCTC Champion – winning the 10,000 meter run twice and the 5,000 meter run once. He finished second in the 5,000 meter run at the NYSCTC outdoor championships this season. He ran in four straight NCAA Cross Country Championships, becoming the first Rochester male cross country runner to do that in 15 years. At season’s end, he was ranked 25th in Division III in the 10,000 meter run for outdoor track.
He completed his academic career with a cumulative grade point average of 3.92 in a double major of Biomedical Engineering and Physics. He was selected as Rochester’s Senior Male Scholar-Athlete in May, 2014.
Away from the running circuit, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the internationally-renowned honor society. He was a member of Rochester’s Provost’s Circle in 2013 which recognizes the top junior student-athletes. In September, 2014, he was recognized with a Garnish Scholar Award, presented to the top senior student-athletes. Pacheck was a multiple All-Academic honoree by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. He worked as a tutoring chair for two mechanical engineering courses and one course in mathematics.
He is the 10th male cross country/track and field athlete at Rochester to earn Academic All-America honors at Rochester since Glenn Lamb was honored in 1983. Those 10 men combined for 11 Academic All-America honors. (Andrew Evans was elected in 1997 and 1998.) The honorees from 1983 (Lamb) through 1998 (Evans) were part of an At-Large team.
Pacheck is Rochester’s third Academic All-American this year, joining Alex Swanger for men’s soccer and women’s swimmer Lauren Bailey who was named to the At-Large Team. Since the inaugural Academic All-America honor in 1976 (to Michael Corp of football), Rochester has accumulated 86 Academic All-America honors.
