AUSTIN, Texas—Men's track & field and cross country graduate student Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.) was recognized Thursday afternoon on the 2020 Academic All-America Division I Track & Field/Cross Country team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).  Comber was a first team selection in national voting and earned one of the top academic honors that can be bestowed on a collegiate student-athlete. 
 
Comber was previously named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team earlier this month and moved on to the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration.  Villanova has had 55 student-athletes be named Academic All-America a total of 72 times since the 1972-73 academic year.  Comber is the 30^th first team selection from the Wildcats but just the fourth from men's track & field/cross country, joining Carlton Young (1982-83); Michael England (1982-83); and Sean O'Neill (1986-87).  The men's track & field/cross country program has earned 12 Academic All-America honors overall. 
 
In order to be eligible for Academic All-District and Academic All-America recognition, a student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA or 3.3 or higher in addition to having significant athletic accomplishments.  Despite the cancellation of spring competition and nearly the entire outdoor track & field season during COVID-19, CoSIDA continued its sponsorship of the Academic All-America awards program.  Student-athletes were selected based on career statistics rather than exclusively for the 2019-20 season.
 
Comber, who was also an Academic All-District honoree in 2016-17, fits all the criteria and more as one of the nation's top distance runners and an accomplished scholar who graduated from Villanova in 2019 and is currently pursuing a Certificate of Business Analytics from the Villanova School of Business.  He earned his undergraduate degree as a double major in Marketing and Business Analytics.  Comber has one season of eligibility remaining and will be returning to the Wildcats for the 2021 outdoor campaign.
 
The accolades for Comber are equally impressive in athletic competition and in the classroom.  He is a four-time All-American, a nine-time BIG EAST champion and a 13-time All-BIG EAST honoree spanning the cross country, indoor and outdoor seasons.  His career highlights include a sensational year of competition in 2018-19 when he earned three of his four career All-America honors.  Comber finished 34^th at the 2018 NCAA Championships in cross country, then went on to be the national runner-up in the Mile indoors and the eighth place finisher in the 1500 meters outdoors.  Each of the latter two finishes earned him first team All-America recognition, while the finish in the Mile was the best by a Villanova athlete in 40 years. 
 
During the shortened 2019-20 campaign, Comber earned first team All-BIG EAST and Mid-Atlantic All-Region honors in cross country for the fourth consecutive year.  He is one of only 10 athletes in program history to be a four-time all-region performer in cross country.  Comber also scored team points in both the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters at the 2020 indoor BIG EAST Championships, where he helped the Wildcats win their third straight indoor conference crown.
 
Comber is a member of Villanova's heralded sub-four minute mile club.  He became the 41^st athlete in Wildcats history to achieve the feat when he raced to a time of 3:57.80 on February 9, 2019 in Boston.  Comber also is a two-time Penn Relays champion, having anchored both the distance medley relay and the 4xMile relay to Championship of America titles in 2018.  He became the first Villanova athlete since 1982 to anchor multiple Penn Relays champion teams in the same year.
 
In addition to his lofty credentials in cross country and on the track, Comber has been consistently recognized for his academic achievement.  He has been named to national all-academic teams by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) six times during his career, including four straight years in cross country and twice on the track.  He is also a four-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and will earn a fifth honor when this year's squad is announced later in the summer. 
 
Comber has been named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll in all eight semesters since the honor was introduced during the 2016-17 academic year.  He was also chosen as Villanova's 2018-19 Male Senior Student-Athlete of the Year.  Comber is a three-time selection to Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Teams, with those honors coming for the 2018 and 2019 cross country seasons as well as the 2018-19 track & field campaign.  He was chosen as the 2018 Men's Cross Country Academic All-Area Performer of the Year after a season in which he won individual BIG EAST and NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional titles.  Comber was the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Men's Athlete of the Year for the cross country season.
 
Thursday afternoon's announcement of the men's and women's track & field/cross country Academic All-America teams recognized 47 women and 46 men.  The 15 members of the men's first team have an average GPA of 3.84.