Juli Accurso ’14
Arguably the most decorated student-athlete to ever don the Green & White, Ohio University senior cross country/track & field student-athlete Juli Accurso 14 was recognized for her outstanding efforts on the track and in the classroom on June 26, becoming the first Capital One Academic All-America selection at Ohio in 21 years.
Accurso is a double major in Linguistics and French in the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University.
Accurso is the eighth Ohio University student-athlete in school history to earn first team Academic All-America honors and the first since swimming’s Amy Lockard garnered the award in 1993. A third-team Capital One Academic All-America selection in 2013, Accurso becomes just the eighth Ohio University student-athlete to garner multiple Academic All-America honors.
Ohio University student-athletes have garnered a total of 27 Capital One Academic All-America honors since 1970.
The Casstown, Ohio, native was selected to the NCAA Division I Academic All-District 5 First Team in May, which automatically nominated her for All-America status.
“It’s a great honor and I’m very thankful to be recognized,” Accurso said. “I’m so proud to be a Bobcat. For me, this honor demonstrates the strength of the support I’ve had through Ohio University and the Athens community. It’s truly helped me reach my full potential.”
A four-time All-American, Accurso put together another outstanding year for the Bobcats in 2013-14. In November, she became the first three-time MAC cross country champion in league history. From there, the USTFCCCA named her the 2013 Great Lakes Region Cross Country Runner of the Year for the second-consecutive season after winning the 2013 NCAA Great Lakes Regional in a school record time of 20:00.
The senior posted the best finish of her career at the 2013 NCAA Cross Country Championships (19th out of 253 runners) in November with a time of 20:14.40 on the six-kilometer course to earn All-America honors for the third time.
After battling through injury during the 2014 indoor season, Accurso won the 5000m and 10000m runs at the MAC Outdoor Championships in Athens this past May. Her time in the 10K (34:32.56) set a new meet record and helped the senior earn the Most Outstanding Track Performer honor at the annual league meet. Earlier during the outdoor campaign, Accurso set a new school record in the 5K (15:59.12) while qualifying for NCAA East Regional action at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
Over the course of her four-year career with the Green & White, Accurso captured USTFCCCA All-America honors on four occasions, won the MAC Cross Country title three times and was a seven-time, First Team All-MAC honoree. A six-time Academic All-MAC pick, Accurso was named to the USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Academic Team in 2012.
Accurso graduated in May with a 3.905 cumulative GPA while completing a double major in French and linguistics. She’s now living in Eugene, Oregon, and training to qualify for Team Run Eugene, a non-profit organization that serves as a training ground for aspiring professional middle and long distance runners.
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