AUSTIN, Texas – Senior cross country and track and field All-American Leah Esposito, a Helena High grad, was named the 2016-17 CoSIDA Academic All-America College Division Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America of the Year for the second-consecutive year.

The CoSIDA Academic All-America® College Division Track & Field/Cross Country Teams are comprised of student-athletes from NAIA, Canadian and two-year institutions.

Esposito closed out her career with 19 All-American honors, including a second-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at this spring's NAIA Track and Field National Championship, a race that she had run just twice before the national championship meet. 

Her biggest jaw-dropping accomplishment came in the fall when she overcame a mid-season pulmonary embolism and returned to win the individual Frontier Conference championship in her final race on her home course in Helena. She also earned All-American honors at the NAIA Championship Indoor meet.

Academically, Esposito graduated with a 3.97 GPA in the Biology program at Carroll. She will take a year off before attending medical school. She hopes to become a surgeon. 

As the All-America of the Year for her sport, she is now eligible for the overall All-America of the Year, an honor she took home for the 2015-16 academic year.