EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana senior All-American Jennifer Comastri (Indianapolis, Indiana) and junior All-American Noah Hufnagel (Santa Claus, Indiana) have been respectively named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s and Women’s Cross Country Scholar-Athletes of the Year in a vote by the league’s 15 faculty athletic representatives.
Comastri earns her first-career GLVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor after winning both the GLVC and NCAA II Midwest Region individual titles. She also was named the GLVC and NCAA II Midwest Region Runner of the Year for her efforts.
The five-time All-American and eight-time All-Midwest Region honoree posted dominating wins at the conference and league meets, finishing both races more than 15 seconds faster than that of the second-place finisher. Her efforts helped USI’s women to a first-place finish at the GLVC Championships and a second-place showing at the NCAA II Midwest Region Championships.
A 2020 kinesiology graduate from USI, Comastri is currently working on her master’s degree in leadership in health services. She racked up a 4.00 GPA in the fall semester and has a cumulative 3.91 graduate school GPA.
Hufnagel earned All-America honors with his 17th-place finish at the NCAA II National Championships this past November. He was fourth at the NCAA II Midwest Regional and second at the GLVC meet, collecting All-Region and All-Conference honors for his efforts.
A kinesiology major with a concentration in physical education, Hufnagel had a 3.88 GPA during the fall semester and a cumulative GPA of 3.64.
Hufnagel was USI’s top performer in all five of the meets he competed in during the fall. He was twice named the GLVC Runner of the Week and finished no lower than eighth in each meet until his 17th-place performance at the national meet.
Comastri is the first USI women’s cross country student-athlete to win GLVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors since Emily Roberts garnered back-to-back awards in 2015 and 2016. Hufnagel is the first USI men’s runner to earn the award since Austin Nolan was named GLVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
