NEW ORLEANS—A new set of academic honors for the Villanova women's cross country team were announced on Thursday afternoon by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Graduate student Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) was named an All-Academic Athlete in cross country for the fifth consecutive season. The Wildcats were named an All-Academic Team by the USTFCCCA for the 17^th straight season for the cumulative academic success of the program's student-athletes.  
 
Olivere is pursuing a Master's degree in Education from Villanova after completing her undergraduate degree with a major in Psychology last Spring. In order to qualify for All-Academic distinction, student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 on a 4.0 scale and finish in the top-25 (or 10 percent) at the NCAA Regional Championships or as an All-American at the NCAA Championships. Olivere came in ninth individually at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional and garnered her fourth career Mid-Atlantic All-Region honor.
 
During her career Olivere is also a four-time first team All-BIG EAST performer in cross country and was the 2019 USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Women's Athlete of the Year after she won the individual title at the Mid-Atlantic Regional. Olivere is a veteran of four career races at the NCAA Championships where she placed as high as 29^th to earn All-America honors in 2019.  
 
This is the 17^th straight year that the Wildcats have earned All-Academic Team distinction from the USTFCCCA. In order to qualify for All-Academic distinction, teams must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, including the most recent grading period.
 
Earlier this week Villanova Athletics announced its academic data from the Fall 2022 semester. The women's cross country squad had the highest GPA among Wildcats women's programs for the third straight semester and posted a 3.736 team GPA for Fall 2022. All 24 of Villanova's varsity sports programs had a GPA above a 3.1. The overall grade-point average for more than 550 student-athletes during the Fall semester was a lofty 3.410, marking the 39^th straight grading period spanning nearly two full decades that Villanova Athletics has had a department GPA above a 3.0. It is also the 16^th consecutive semester that the student-athlete GPA has been higher than a 3.2.