Friday, July 12, 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. – For the third consecutive year, a record number of student-athletes are being recognized for exceptional academic achievement with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s Faculty Athletic Representative Scholar-Athlete Award.

A total of 248 student-athletes, 70 men and 178 women, are being honored for compiling a cumulative grade point average of 3.85 or better. All student-athletes listed on any squad at a GNAC full-member school, regardless of whether the sport is a GNAC championship sport, are eligible for the award. Conference affiliate members could nominate student-athletes from the sport in which they compete for the GNAC.

Of the 248 honored student-athletes, 124 are repeat selections accounting for 50 percent of the total list. The honorees include 53 student-athletes (19 men, 34 women) who finished the 2018-19 academic year with a GPA of 4.00 or better (Simon Fraser grades on a system which awards a 4.33 for an A-plus).

Eighteen student-athletes received their fourth FAR Scholar-Athlete Award. Four-time women’s selections include Alaska Anchorage’s Alix Wells (skiing) and Casey Wright (skiing); Central Washington’s Brenna Liebel (track and field), Kaycee O’Brien (volleyball) and Alexa Shindruk (cross country/track and field); Concordia’s Katrina Linenko (track and field), Montana State Billings’ Lili Delgadillo (soccer), Northwest Nazarene’s Olivia Carter (soccer) and Cassidy Fifield (softball), Seattle Pacific’s Emma Young (soccer), Simon Fraser’s Carli Grosso (soccer) and Western Oregon’s Natalie DeLonge (basketball) and Ali Nelke (basketball).

Men’s four-time honorees include Alaska Anchorage’s Marcus Deuling (skiing), Central Washington’s Justin Wendling (track and field), Montana State Billings’ Jared Winslow (baseball), Seattle Pacific’s Sam Simpson (basketball) and Western Oregon’s Tyler Jones (cross country/track and field).

In addition to the 18 four-time honorees, a total of 44 student-athletes earned their third FAR Scholar-Athlete Awards.

A faculty athletic representative (FAR) is a member of the faculty at an NCAA member institution who has been designated to serve as a liaison between the institution’s faculty and the athletic department. The FAR serves as a representative of the institution in conference and NCAA affairs.

The role of the FAR is “to ensure that the academic institution establishes and maintains the appropriate balance between academics and athletics.”

2019 GNAC FACULTY ATHLETIC REPRESENTATIVE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARD RECIPIENTS