GREENWOOD, Ind. – College Sports Communicators announced its 2025-26 NCAA Division III Men's Track & Field / Cross Country Academic All-America Teams this morning, placing Luke Lamitina '26 (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Winchester Thurston) on the prestigious First Team.

"This award means so much to me because it really encapsulates the values of being a student-athlete at Caltech, where we get the opportunity to balance a rigorous academic environment with the chance to compete athletically at the collegiate level," said Lamitina on receiving the high honor.

CSC release with full list of honorees

Majoring in Astrophysics, Lamitina graduated from Caltech with a 4.1 GPA after earning three Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship awards for exoplanet research; two of which he spent with NASA-JPL working on the Ariel mission, which is set for launch in 2029. He has been awarded Stanford Graduate Fellowship and will pursue a PhD.

Luke walked on to the Caltech Track & Field team as a junior and competed in hammer throw, weight throw, javelin throw and 100-yard dash in his two years on the team. In his senior year he set a new Caltech all-time javelin throw record of 67.57 meters, en route to an individual SCIAC Champion title. He put an exclamation point on his Caltech career by representing the Beavers at the 2026 NCAA National Championships, earning a First Team All-American distinction with his fourth-place finish in what was the most competitive javelin throw competition in a decade. He is the first Beaver to earn that title.

Lamitina is the fourth Beaver to earn First Team Academic All-America recognition, joining 11 other Caltech student-athletes on the all-time list.

About the Academic All-America Program

College Sports Communicators

Caltech Track & Field