College Sports Communicators (CSC) announced the 2025-26 Academic All-District® Teams for cross country and track on Tuesday and five athletes from Lake Forest College made the list.
To be eligible for nomination, student-athletes must maintain at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale at their current institution and be at least a sophomore academically and athletically. In addition, they must finish in the top 50 at the regional meet in cross country or rank among the to 50 in the region in an individual event during the indoor or outdoor season.
Junior Letti Hoda met the qualifying standard in all three seasons in 2025-26. She placed 44th with a 6-kilometer time of 2336.3 at the NCAA Division III Regional Meet in November, two weeks after earning All-Midwest Conference honors with a 14th-place finish and career-best time of 22:26.9 at the conference meet. During the track and field season, Hoda's program record time of 10:26.01 in the indoor 3000m ranked her 27th in the region while her outdoor 5000m clocking of 17:51.92 was also the best in team history and ranked 18th regionally. The neuroscience major is a Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society inductee and a two-time Academic All-MWC honoree.
Fellow junior Ollie Francis is also a CSC Academic All-District® selection in multiple sports after earning the honor in soccer during the fall and track and field in the spring. After winning a conference championship in the 800m last spring, he defended that title during both the indoor and outdoor seasons this year. His 1:55.23 at the Chicagoland Indoor Championships and 1:54.23 at the Chicagoland Outdoor Championships broke the school records he already owned and ranked him 12th and 10th, respectively, in the region. In addition, Francis set a team record in the indoor 400m with a time of 51.13 and ranked 45th regionally in that event. He is an economics major with a concentration in finance, a Chi Alpha Sigma inductee, and a two-time Academic All-MWC selection.
Like Francis, sophomore Finn Gruver is majoring in economics with a finance concentration, played soccer in the fall, and captured conference titles at the league's indoor and outdoor championship meets. The long jumper's indoor mark of 6.90m (22' 7.75") was a program record and ranked 10th regionally while his best outdoor leap of 6.76m (22' 2.25") was good for second in team history and 24th in the region.
Sophomore triple jumper Ryan Talty also qualified for CSC Academic All-District® honors during the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons. He was 50th in the region at 12.82m (42' 0.75") indoors while his season-best outdoor mark of 12.91m (42' 4.25") ranked 40th. He is majoring in politics and earned Academic All-MWC accolades last summer.
Sophomore Liam Foo joined the list of CSC Academic All-District® honorees with his performance during the outdoor track and field season. His time of 58.70 in the 400m hurdles shattered his own school record and ranked him 45th in the region. The team's Most Improved Performer this year is majoring in biology and was an Academic All-MWC honoree last year.
The five CSC Academic All-District® selections in track and field are the most in program history. Hoda and Francis were also among the honorees a year ago and Hoda is the first Forester to earn that status in cross country since the top-50 regional ranking was instituted in 2024.
