NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Yale women's cross country team has earned the USTFCCCA's All-Academic Team award for 2025, posting a 3.76 cumulative GPA. That was the best GPA among Ivy League teams this season. Additionally, senior
Claire Archer (Seattle, Wash.) and first-year
Phoebe Benun (Santa Monica, Calif.) earned All-Academic Athlete recognition. The USTFCCCA announced the awards Thursday.
Yale's cumulative GPA this year was the team's second-highest GPA in the history of the USTFCCCA awards program (based on 21 years of available records). The Bulldogs have had a GPA of 3.67 or better for seven straight years.
This is the second year in a row that Archer, an economics major, has earned All-Academic Athlete recognition in cross country. She also won the team's Most Valuable Performer/Runner Award for the second year in a row. The honors come on the heels of another impressive season for her. She earned All-Region honors for the second year in a row, this time with an 11th-place finish (20:17.0) at the 2025 Northeast Regional.
Archer competed at Regionals all four years of her career. In 2024 she was Yale's top finisher and was 12th overall. She placed 30th in 2022 and 48th in 2023, finishing as Yale's second runner both times.
Archer was Yale's top finisher in every race she competed in this past season. In addition to her All-Region honors, she was named first team All-Ivy League for the second year in a row after placing fourth overall at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships. She also was named Academic All-Ivy League.
Archer is a graduate of Roosevelt High School.
Benun won the team's Most Outstanding First-Year Award, progressing to a point where she finished second on the team at NCAA Regionals (26th overall, 20:34.8, one spot away from earning All-Region). She was Yale's third finisher at the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships, placing 16th overall (21:50.2) and second among the league's first-years. She was one of Yale's top five finishers in all five races she ran this fall.
Benun is a graduate of Santa Monica High School.
The USTFCCCA All-Academic Team award is given annually to teams with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. In order to qualify for All-Academic Athlete distinction individually, student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 on a 4.0 scale and finish in the top 25 (or top 10 percent) at the NCAA Regional Championships or as an All-American at the NCAA Championships.
