AUSTIN, Texas--Westminster College track and field standout Ryan Beard (Murrysville, Pa. | Franklin Regional) earned College Sports Communicators (CSC) Division III Academic All-America^® honors for the second-straight year. CSC announced its 2022-23 Academic All-America^® men's track and field/cross country teams Thursday afternoon.
 
A 2022-23 First Team selection, Beard was honored as a Second Team selection in 2021-22. He is the first two-time cross country/track and field winner in program history. Beard is the school's first Academic All-America^® First Team honoree since Kevin Culp (baseball) and Jim Chaney (football) in 2003.
 
Beard is one of 13 repeat selections named to this year's Division III Academic All-America^® team.

Beard posted a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) this year at Westminster. He is also pursuing a graduate degree in finance at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, where he owns a 3.92 cumulative GPA. Beard is currently serving as an investment banking summer analyst at Truist Securities in Atlanta. He previously worked as the head private equity intern at North Haven Capital (Sept. 2022-April 2023) in Portland, Maine and as an audit and assurance intern with Deloitte & Touche (June-Aug. 2022) in Pittsburgh.

During his time with Truist Securities Beard has also volunteered at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta (BGCMA). 

Beard was recognized by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) in May as a Division III All Mid-Atlantic honoree, earning All-Region in the 200 meters. His time of 21.80 seconds at the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championships on April 27 was the third-best time in the event in the region. Beard finished No. 7 in the region in the 100 meters (10.83).

Beard also ran on Westminster's 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays, which both ranked seventh in the Mid-Atlantic. He anchored the 4x100, which posted a time of 42.55 at the Grove City College Mini Invitational on April 5. He ran the second leg of the 4x400, which registered a time of 3:21.77 at the Westminster Invitational on April 8. The 4x100 won this year's PAC title while the 4x400 finished as the runner-up.
 
Beard finished with a 4.0 cumulative GPA in 2021-22 after completing a three-year accelerated undergraduate degree in accounting last spring. He was recognized as Westminster's Most Outstanding Accounting student and was named a Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) Outstanding Senior Award winner for his service to the community and work in the classroom. Beard was also an Elks National Foundation Legacy Scholarship recipient. 
 
At the 2022 Division III Outdoor Championships Beard received the NCAA's Elite 90 award, which recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 90 award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships. Beard is the first Westminster student-athlete to claim an Elite 90 award. He earned All-America honors at the Division III Championships with a seventh-place finish as a member of 4x100-meter relay (41.38), the first All-American relay in program history.