Duke sophomore Braelyn Baker added another line to a decorated year on Wednesday, landing on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Second Team.
The honor gives Baker her fourth academic recognition of the 2025-26 campaign. She was also named to the CSC Academic All-District Team and earned spots on the indoor and outdoor All-ACC Academic teams. The Carnation, Washington, native is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, posted a 4.0 GPA during the 2025-26 academic term and carries a 3.98 cumulative GPA.
Baker’s work in competition matched the numbers in the classroom. Across the indoor and outdoor seasons, she collected four All-America honors, six ACC medals and seven All-ACC accolades. She also helped push the Duke women to runner-up finishes at both the ACC Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
Her season was packed with record-setting runs. Baker helped establish six program marks, including the indoor 300 meters, the indoor and outdoor 400 meters, the outdoor 4x100 relay and the indoor and outdoor 4x400 relay. She also logged 14 top-five program times over the course of the year.
The outdoor season ended with a strong showing at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where Baker earned three USTFCCCA All-America honors. Her biggest result came in the women’s 4x400 relay, where Duke finished fourth in a program-record 3:24.59 to secure first-team All-America recognition. She also picked up All-America Second Team honors in the 400 and the 4x100 relay.
At the ACC Outdoor Championships, Baker delivered across the board, taking gold in the 4x400, silver in the 400, bronze in the 200 and bronze in the 4x100. She was named All-ACC in each of those events.
Her indoor campaign was just as productive. Baker helped Duke win ACC event titles in the 4x400 relay and distance medley relay, earning All-ACC First Team honors in both.
She also made the All-ACC Second Team in the 400. At the NCAA Indoor Championships, she was part of the women’s 4x400 relay that finished fifth and earned USTFCCCA All-America First Team recognition.
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