Wednesday, May 22, 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. – Another strong season across the board for the University of Alaska Anchorage has provided the Seawolves a third consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Sports Championship.

With three conference titles and top-three finishes in seven of the nine conference sports the school sponsors, Alaska Anchorage finished with a score of 8.53 in the survey of overall excellence in the conference’s programs. Western Washington was a close second with an average score of 8.24 while Central Washington was third at 7.68.

Alaska Anchorage also repeated as the women’s all-sports champion with a score of 8.83. The Seawolves won two of their three GNAC titles in women’s sports: cross country and basketball. Central Washington was second with a score of 8.04 and Seattle Pacific was third with a score of 7.33.

“Winning a third consecutive GNAC All-Sports Championship, first and foremost, speaks to the level of excellence that our University of Alaska Anchorage athletics program represents,” said Alaska Anchorage athletic director Greg Myford. “This achievement is the result of our administration, staff, coaches and, most importantly, our student-athletes, sharing a common focus on being our best. We also thank our fans, donors and sponsors for their on-going support of our programs. We will continue to aim high in all that we do.”

In finishing second overall, Western Washington reclaimed the men’s all-sports championship for the first time since 2015 with an average score of 8.55. The Vikings won three of their five conference championships on the men’s side, capturing both the indoor and outdoor track and field trophies as well as golf. Alaska Anchorage was second at 7.63 and Simon Fraser was third at 6.42.

Western Washington saw women’s conference championships in soccer and volleyball, while Alaska Anchorage’s lone men’s championship was in cross country.

The conference’s 16 championships were spread out among seven full member schools. Central Washington tied with Azusa Pacific for the football championship and won its fourth-consecutive softball regular-season championship. Seattle Pacific won titles in both women’s indoor and outdoor track and field while Simon Fraser was the champion in men’s soccer and women’s golf.

Montana State Billings (baseball) and Saint Martin’s (men’s basketball) each won one championship.

The GNAC All-Sports Championship is determined using the Dormeyer System, which gives each school an average score based on its finish in each conference sport and the number of GNAC sports sponsored by each school. The averages are based on regular season finishes in football, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball and conference meet finishes in men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field and men’s and women’s golf. The system treats each conference title equally, with 10 points awarded to first place with values dropping incrementally based on the number of schools sponsoring that sport.