Three Bulldogs earned 2025-26 Academic All-America honors, as announced by College Sports Communicators this week. Jesse Hamlin, Matthew Forrester and William Zegarski were named to the Academic All-America second team, joining 151 other student-athletes across all NCAA divisions to earn a spot on one of the teams.

The 2025-26 Academic All-America teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in the classroom and during the cross country/track & field season.
 
"To have an Academic All-American honoree in your program is a tremendous honor. The academic and athletic thresholds for this award are incredibly high. That said, to have three Academic All-Americans in one year is an amazing feat," said head coach Matt Roe. "William, Matthew, and Jesse epitomize what it means to be elite student-athletes and we couldn't be prouder of all their accomplishments."

Hamlin earned recognition based on his qualifying times in the cross country 10K and the indoor 3,000 meters. He finished second at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional with a time of 29:43.16. Hamlin entered the NCAA Indoor Championships ranked 10th with a qualifying time of 7:39.70. He finished fifth at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors. He earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics and computer science and a Master of Science in Business Analytics from Butler. He completed his academic career with a 3.904 GPA.

Forrester earned recognition based on his qualifying time in the 10,000 meters at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships. He entered the NCAA East First Round ranked 31st with a time of 28:55.93. He earned an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Charleston and a graduate degree in English from Butler. He completed his academic career with a 4.00 GPA.

Zegarski finished fourth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional during the 2025 cross country season with a time of 29:22.0. He entered the NCAA East First Round in track with the nation's 40th-best time and the East Region's 14th-best time in the 10,000 meters at 28:28.18. He improved on that ranking by earning second-team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a 10th-place finish. Zegarski is majoring in data science and statistics and currently holds a 3.611 GPA.