AUSTIN – Suffolk men's cross country and track & field senior Matyas Csiki-Fejer was named to the 2021-22 Academic All-America First-Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the national organization announced Wednesday.
CoSIDA began the distinguished Academic All-America program in 1952, and since then, has honored thousands of deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with elite Academic All-America scholar-athlete honors. The honor recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom.
Suffolk has seen a student-athlete achieve Academic All-America status in each of the last five years. Overall, three Rams have combined for six Academic All-America distinctions in the University's history with Csiki-Fejer holding half of those such honors with his third accolade in as many years.
Csiki-Fejer became the first-ever male runner in the Rams record book to pick up an all-district nod back in 2019-20 and went on to become the youngest Academic All-American in Suffolk history across all sports that year. A year ago, he received his second nod as the second-ever student-athlete to achieve a pair of such recognitions following in Emily Manfra's footsteps, who picked up back-to-back honors in 2018-19 and 2019-20, respsectively. This year, with his third acknowledgement, he etched his name in Suffolk history as the first and only Ram to receive Academic All-America status three times, each year he was eligible to do so.
The two-time CCC Scholar-Athlete of the Year was voted onto the first-team as a senior double-major in law and public policy. He has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average, just one of ten student-athletes among the 45 men selected to the 2021-22 list to do so. He has one-upped his selection each year he has been honored with a third-team nod in 2019-20, a spot on the second-team in 2020-21 and his first first-team acknowledgement this year. He is the first male to earn a first-team feat, second-ever Ram to do so as Manfra grabbed a first-team honor in 2019-20.
Athletically, the long-distance runner has left his mark on the cross country and track & field programs. He wrote and rewrote the Rams record books.
Over his four years, he competed on the national stage four times, twice on the cross country course, once in indoor and outdoor track & field, respectively. Csiki-Fejer may have saved his best performance for last as he completed the trifecta as a senior this season, running in all three fields and garnering All-America twice; cross country and outdoor track & field. He was the first male Suffolk student-athlete to compete at NCAAs in each of those sports in the University's history and first-ever to pick up All-America distinction in cross country and outdoor track & field. He is the second ram to garner a pair of All-America honors, first since Suffolk Hall of Famer Jess Ferreira '09 was rewarded for her efforts on the softball diamond in 2006 and 2009 by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).
On top of the national level accomplishments, the Manchester, Missouri, native's athletic resume includes captaining the blue-and-gold to three team conference championships, a pair of GNAC Indoor Track & Field titles and the inaugural CCC Outdoor Track & Field crown in 2022. Individually, he has won seven individual conference championships en route to five conference runner/track athlete of the year honors and a pair of conference rookie of the year nods to go along with numerous all-region selections.