AUSTIN, Texas— After appearing on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Team last month, both Yessenia Castellanos and Dylan Garcia leveled up to garner CSC Academic All-America® First Team recognition, that according to a release from the association on Tuesday.
 
Those honors marked the 10^th and 11^th CSC Academic All-America® nods in Montreat College Athletics history, as well as the first of both Castellanos's and Garcia's careers.
 
Castellanos ranked at the top of her Montreat College graduating class. A perfect 4.0 GPA and the school valedictorian, Castellanos took care of business when it came to academics. The Pelion, S.C. native was also a decorated collegiate athlete. During 2024-25, Castellanos racked up five all-conference awards, two Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) event titles and one NAIA All-American honor across the cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons.
 
Garcia was no stranger to success either. Rocking a 3.84 GPA, the Franklin, N.C. native managed to balance excellence in academics and athletics. During the 2024-25 cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons, Garcia totaled four AAC event titles and seven all-conference nods. She also collected AAC Indoor Co-Track Athlete of the Year and Colonel John Sullivan AAC Female Student-Athlete of Character status at the conference level. Meanwhile, Garcia registered five NAIA All-American awards in 2024-25.
 
Castellanos and Garcia were two of the 21 NAIA student-athletes included among the CSC Academic All-America® Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Teams. Twelve of those 21 student-athletes captured First Team status.
 
To be eligible for nomination, each student-athlete had to be at least a sophomore both athletically and academically, had to maintain at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA and had to place inside the top 25 of a conference event. Select honorees then advanced to the Academic All-America® ballot where CSC members from across the NAIA voted for who they deemed most deserving of the national recognition.
 
For the full list of CSC Academic All-America® Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Teams, click here.