ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Most years, an All-American honor is enough to set apart an athlete in the athlete of the year race.
 
This year, one All-American accolade wasn't enough.
 
The College of Saint Benedict athletic department had three student-athletes earn All-American honors during the 2016-17 school year. Two of those athletes earned All-American honors not once, but twice over the course of the year.
 
Both Jenna Degen and London Stelten qualified for both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor National Championships, and both ended each championship meet in the same spot: on the podium, waiting to be handed an All-American plaque. For their accomplishments in 2016-17, both athletes – both members of the CSB track and field team – have been named CSB's co-Athletes of the Year, as voted on by CSB coaches and athletics staff.
 
Stelten and Degen joined an elite group in 2016-17, becoming just the third and fourth CSB track and field athletes to earn two All-American honors in one season. The last was Caroline Boatz, who finished top eight in the pole vault at the indoor and outdoor national championships in 2001, and prior to that it was Katy Deignan, who finished All-American in the 800-meter run indoor and outdoor in 1993.
 
They also join a list of just 10 CSB athletes to earn All-American honors twice in any sport in the same season. Four members of the CSB swimming and diving team earned All-American and All-American Honorable Mention accolades in the same season: Gretchen Weber in 1998-99 and Katie Olson, Noelle Peterson and Courtney Remes in 1997-98. Two athletes have also earned All-American honors in different sports in the same season. Tina Kampa earned All-American volleyball and basketball honors in 1994-95, and Lexi Alm earned the honor in volleyball and softball in 2013-14.
 
Stelten wrapped up her senior season by setting four different records and adding a handful of new awards to her resume. During the indoor season, she won the pole vault competition at seven different meets, including her second straight MIAC Indoor Championships title. Along the way, she set the indoor school record at 3.83 meters – which also happened to be the MIAC Indoor Championship meet record. Her record-setting vault won her Performance of the Meet honors.
 
Stelten qualified for the NCAA Indoor National Championships for the first time in her career in 2017, and she ended the indoor season on the podium after finishing tied for fourth with a vault of 3.75 meters.
 
After setting records in the indoor season, Stelten pushed herself even harder during the outdoor season. She won seven more competitions, including her fifth straight MIAC title thanks to a vault of 3.82 meters at the conference outdoor championships – another meet record. She qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships and landed a spot on the podium again after taking fourth with a vault of 3.95 meters – a personal best of six centimeters and another school record.
 
Degen made a name for herself as one of the best multi-event athletes in Division III as a sophomore in 2017. She won the MIAC pentathlon title at the conference meet in February, and followed that up by earning All-MIAC Honorable Mention in the 60-meter hurdles. Degen qualified for the indoor national championships in the pentathlon, and finished the year on the podium and in fourth with a score of 3,367 – a school record. She took second in the high jump on her way to the first All-American honor of her career.
 
Along with setting the school record in the pentathlon, Degen also made her way into the top-10 in CSB indoor history in the 60 hurdles, high jump and long jump.
 
Degen was equally as good in the outdoor season. She took second in the heptathlon at the MIAC Outdoor Championships, and also finished runner-up in the high jump. She earned honorable mention accolades in the 100 hurdles and as part of the 1,600-meter relay team.
 
Degen qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and recorded four personal bests throughout the course of the two days. She won the long jump and took second in the high jump, both with marks in the top 10 in CSB history, and also recorded PRs in the javelin and 100 hurdles. It all added up to 4,729 points – the CSB heptathlon record – a third-place finish and a second-straight All-American honor for Degen. After her sophomore season, Degen is second in CSB history in the long jump, fourth in the high jump and 100 hurdles and in the top 10 in the javelin.
 
Not only did Degen and Stelten's extraordinary seasons lead to individual accolades, they also helped the CSB track and field team to one of its best seasons in program history. The team took second at both the indoor and outdoor MIAC championships, and scored 130 points – the most in program history – at the conference outdoor meet. The pair of runner-up finishes helped CSB finish third overall in the MIAC All-Sports Race.