Zack Named WIAC Men's Indoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete Award Winner

The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) selected UW-Oshkosh senior Joe Zack as its 2018 recipient of the Max Sparger Men's Indoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete Award.

Zack, who owns a 3.59 cumulative grade point average as a biology major, is a four-time member of the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll and a two-time selection to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's All-Academic Team. He has been named to the UW-Oshkosh Dean's List on two occasions.

Zack finished fifth in the mile run at the WIAC Championship held Feb. 23-24 in Stevens Point. He placed second in the mile and fourth in the 800-meter runs at the 2017 conference championship and ran the anchor leg on the Titans' second-place distance medley relay squad in 2014.

Zack secured All-America recognition in 2015, when his distance medley relay team finished seventh at the NCAA Division III Championship.

An Optimist Club member, Zack serves as a tutor and supplemental instructor for human physiology at UW-Oshkosh. The former UW-Oshkosh Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member also co-directs the Titan 5K. His volunteer activities include involvement with the Chancellor's Run/Walk, Fox Cities Marathon, Salvation Army bell ringing and Campus Clean-Up.

Zack, a graduate of Oconomowoc High School, is the second Titan to receive the WIAC Men's Indoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete Award. The other UW-Oshkosh recipient was Greg Matzek in 2000.

Also nominated for this year's scholar-athlete award were UW-Eau Claire's Darin Lau, UW-Platteville's Blake DeMunck, UW-River Falls' Riley Jacobson, UW-Stout's Christian Lucchesi and UW-Whitewater's Matthew Green.

The WIAC Scholar-Athlete Award is named after Max Sparger, who served as commissioner of the Wisconsin State University Conference for 22 years from 1971-93.

In order to be nominated for the scholar-athlete award, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.50 grade point average. In addition, he must be in his last year of competition, or on schedule to graduate this academic year, and have competed for a minimum of two years.