GREENWOOD, Ind. — Milaina Almonte added another award Tuesday to her honors-laden 2025-26 season, being named to the Academic All-District Women's Track & Field/Cross Country team, selected by College Sports Communicators.
 
Almonte earned the distinction thanks to both her 3.790 cumulative Grade Point Average, and for finishing 20th at the NCAA Division I Cross Country West Region Championship in November. Honorees had to carry at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA while also posting either a top-50 individual performance at their NCAA regional in cross country, or by ranking among the top-50 in their region for a single event during track season (indoor or outdoor).
 
Almonte earned West Coast Conference all-academic honorable mention during the fall while also landing on the all-WCC first team in cross country after her sixth-place finish at the WCC Championship. Her 20th-place showing at the NCAA cross country regional also garnered her all-region honors. She was the Broncos' No. 1 runner in all five of the cross country races she ran, including winning the Bronco Invitational on Oct. 18 in a school-record time of 20 minutes, 6.5 seconds.
 
In May, Almonte became the fourth Bronco all-time on the women's side to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field West First Round meet, and the first since 2024. Her near-school-record time of 10:23.35 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Franson Last Chance meet (May 9) punched her ticket to Fayetteville, Ark. There, she'd finish 22nd, moving up 26 spots in a field she entered ranked 48th. Almonte finished 10th in her heat, which ended up being the fastest of the evening with the top-two times, three of the top-five and eight of the top-20 marks coming from her section.
 
Almonte ran four top-five all-time marks in 2026 for the Broncos' indoor and outdoor track programs. Her 16:25.89 indoor 5,000 meters she ran in December was nearly the fastest 5,000 ever run by a Bronco in indoor or outdoor. She ran 16:35.04 at the Stanford Invitational on April 3 that ranks fourth on the all-time outdoor list. She narrowly missed the school-record with her aforementioned 3,000-meter steeplechase performance on May 9, and she posted the third-best time in the indoor 3,000 at 9:44.40 in February.