ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Recent Augustana graduate Valeria Melo (Lisle HS, Lisle, Ill) has added her name to the Vikings' impressive list of Academic All-America honorees. Google Cloud and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced their 2018 NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country/Track & Field team on Tuesday, with Melo earning third team recognition.
 
A public health and biology major with a minor in biochemistry, Melo graduated on May 20 with a cumulative grade point average of 3.97. She is the daughter of Martha Melo of Lisle, Illinois and Hermes Melo of Naperville, Illinois.
 
Melo was a four-year letter winner in Coach David Thompson's Viking track & field program. She ran the third leg of Augustana's 4x400 relay this year, which won College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin championships both indoors and outdoors and finished 14th at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in La Crosse, Wisconsin. She was also a member of the Vikings' 2015 CCIW-champion distance medley relay indoors.
 
Individually, Melo competed at 200, 400 and 800 meters. She finished fifth in the 800 at this year's CCIW outdoor meet and recorded a pair of second-place finishes—in the 400 at the Wisconsin-Platteville Open and in the 800 indoors at the North Central Cardinal Opener. She finished her career with collegiate bests of :26.97 in the 200, 1:00.27 in the 400 and 2:18.63 at 800 meters.
 
Melo collected this year's Knut Erickson Award as the Viking female athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average among senior blanket award winners. An eight-time Academic All-CCIW honoree, she was this spring's female Jack Swartz Award winner.
 
Melo and fellow 2018 grad Mitchell Johnson (Pleasant Plains HS, New Berlin, Ill.), who was a first team selection in men's track and cross country, become Augustana's 174th and 175th Academic All-America selections all-time—seventh-most of any school in the nation.