LOCK HAVEN, PA- West Chester University national champion,
Ralph Casper (York, Pa./York Suburban) earned PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Men's Track & Field Performer of the Year for the second time in his career. He was also named the performer of the year in 2019-20.
The 2022-23 PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Men's Track & Field team is selected through voting conducted by the sports information directors of 30 institutions in the Philadelhia Metropolitan area. In order to be eligible for academic all-area honors, an athlete must be in at least their second year at the institution and hold a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30, or better. A native of York, Pa., Casper is an Exercise Science graduate student at West Chester University.
Casper recently concluded his collegiate career at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, finishing with a national championship in the shot put - the first by a WCU male athlete in the Golden Rams Division II era - and a pair of First-Team All-America honors (shot put, discus). This performance, which came over Memorial Day weekend in Colorado, was only a fitting end to a stellar 2022-23 season, which saw Casper capture the PSAC shot put crown at both the indoor and outdoor championships, along with a discus title at the outdoor championship
The graduate student thrower rewrote the record book for West Chester during the outdoor season, setting a new program record in the shot put during the Championships of the Americas at the 127th Penn Relays. He set a new discus record at NCAAs as he finished fifth after being seeded 12th entering the competition. Casper's two top-fives and subsequent First-Team All-America citations at the national championships led the Golden Rams to a 22nd-place finish.
Earlier in the outdoor season, Casper was named Men's Field Athlete of the Meet at the PSAC championships, before being named a USTFCCCA All-Atlantic Region honoree and eventually a First-Team All-American by the USTFCCCA as well. Casper was also recognized for his academic achievements earning Collegiate Sports Communicators (CSC-formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District honors, which led to him advancing to the CSC Academic All-America Ballot.
Casper was a two-time All-PSAC honoree and the Field Athlete of the Year at the PSAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships
