Thursday, July 17, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore.  – Seattle Pacific is the 2013-14 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Academic All-Sports champion.

The Falcons  outpointed Northwest Nazarene 156-147 to win their fifth overall title in the 13-year history of the award.  SPU was also the academic all-sports champion in 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2010-11.  Defending champion Saint Martin’s finished third with 146 points.

"I'm really excited to hear this news and extremely proud of our teams,” SPU athletic director Erin O’Connell said.  “We had a concerted effort this year to have all teams post a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 or higher for each quarter and we did, in fact, reach that goal.

 “We also had a record-setting 116 student-athletes make the Dean's List for this past spring quarter. Certainly the efforts of our coaches and support staff should not go unnoticed in the help that they provide in the shepherding and monitoring of the student-athletes."

SPU finished in a three-way tie with Northwest Nazarene and Saint Martin’s for the men’s academic all-sports championship.  All three schools finished with 70 points.  It is the first tie in the history of the award. 

Montana State Billings won its third consecutive women’s academic all-sports title with 91 points.  Seattle Pacific finished second with 86 points.

Seattle Pacific earned the best team GPA in five different sports including men’s soccer (3.34), men’s basketball (3.36), men’s track and field (3.31), women’s soccer (3.50) and women’s basketball (3.59).

Saint Martin’s posted the best team grade point average in four sports including men’s cross country (3.35), men’s golf (3.38), women’s cross country (3.65) and softball (3.34).  The SMU women’s cross country  GPA was the highest of any GNAC team.

Montana State Billings had the best team GPA in baseball (3.09), women’s golf (3.45) and women’s track and field (3.53).  Also earning the best team GPAs in their sport were Central Washington’s volleyball team (3.52) and Azusa Pacific’s football team (2.92).

Seventy-four of the conference’s 112 teams (66.1 percent) posted cumulative GPAs of 3.00 or better, including nine women’s cross country and volleyball teams and eight women’s track and field teams.  In all 49 of the GNAC’s 59 women’s teams (83.1 percent) had cumulative GPAs of at least 3.00.

Three teams – Seattle Pacific’s men’s basketball and women’s soccer teams and Azusa Pacific’s football team – were champions on both the field and in the classroom.

The Academic all-sports standings are based on the cumulative grade point averages of all the athletes on the official team rosters including redshirts.  Points are awarded on two-point increments.

Overall (Top 5) – 1. Seattle Pacific 156, 2. Northwest Nazarene 147, 3. Saint Martin’s 146, 4. Montana State Billings 142, 5. Central Washington 107. Men (Top 5) – 1. Northwest Nazarene, Saint Martin’s and Seattle Pacific 70, 4. Montana State Billings 51, 5. Central Washington 35. Women (Top 5) – 1.   Montana State Billings 91, 2. Seattle Pacific 86, 3, Northwest Nazarene 77, 4. Saint Martin’s 76, 5. Central Washington 72.

Men (Top 3):    Cross Country – 1. Saint Martin’s 3.35, 2. Alaska Fairbanks 3.31, Seattle Pacific 3.22.  Soccer – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.34, 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.23, 3. South Dakota Mines 3.21. Football – 1. Azusa Pacific 2.92, 2. Dixie State 2.90, 3. Central Washington 2.76. Basketball – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.36, 2. Alaska Anchorage 3.16, 3. Saint Martin’s 3.05. Baseball – 1. Montana State Billings 3.09; 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.08; 3. Saint Martin’s 2.92.  Track and Field – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.31, 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.21, 3. Central Washington 3.07. Golf – 1. Saint Martin’s 3.38, 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.11, 3. Montana State Billings 3.00.  

Women (Top 3): Volleyball – 1. Central Washington 3.52, 2. Seattle Pacific 3.46, 3. Alaska Fairbanks 3.31. Cross Country – 1. Saint Martin’s 3.65, 2. Seattle Pacific 3.63, 3. Montana State Billings 3.49.   Soccer – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.50, 2. Saint Martin’s 3.47, 3. Central Washington 3.39. Basketball – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.59, 2. Montana State Billings 3.57, 3. Northwest Nazarene 3.23.  Softball – 1. Saint Martin’s 3.34, 2. Central Washington 3.25, 3. Northwest Nazarene and MSU Billings 3.18.  Track and Field – 1.   Montana State Billings 3.53, 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.43, 3. Seattle Pacific 3.40.  Golf – 1. Montana State Billings 3.45, 2. Saint Martin’s 3.44, 3, Northwest Nazarene 3.21.