Thursday, May 25, 2017

PORTLAND, Ore. – A total of seven GNAC athletes, including an impressive six from Western Washington, have earned selection to the College Sports Information Directors of America’s Division II Academic All-District 8 Men’s and Women’s Track/Cross Country Teams.

All three GNAC selections to the Men’s Track/Cross Country Team are from WWU: sophomore Alex Barry and seniors Gordie Kordas and Andrew Wise. The Vikings also landed three athletes on the Women’s Track/Cross Country Team in junior Anna Paradee and seniors Bethany Drake and Jasmine McMullin. Joining the three is Alaska Anchorage senior Jamie Ashcroft.

With their selections, the seven will be forwarded on to the ballots for the CoSIDA Academic All-America Track/Cross Country Teams. Those squads will be announced on Thurs., June 22.

Barry, who has a 3.48 cumulative grade point average as a kinesiology major, was the only GNAC men’s javelin thrower to go over 200 feet this season, throwing 204 feet, 5 inches at April’s Bryan Clay Invite. Barry was the 2017 GNAC outdoor champion in the event, winning with an effort of 198 feet, 11.75 inches.

Kordas, who has a 3.76 GPA as a chemistry major, led the Vikings and was third in the GNAC in the pole vault with a season best of 15 feet, 9 inches, at May’s Oregon Twilight. The mark is also sixth best in WWU history. Kordas placed fifth in the event amidst less than ideal conditions at the GNAC outdoor championships. During the indoor season, Kordas finished with a best of 15 feet, 9.25 inches.

Wise, who has a 3.50 GPA as a journalism and environmental policy major, was a contibutor for the Vikings in both the cross country and track seasons. His best efforts came in the indoor season, placing fourth in the 3,000 meters at the GNAC Championships in 8:40.29. He went on to place sixth in the steeplechase (9:22.66) and eighth in the 5,000 meters (15:37.14) at the GNAC Outdoor Championships. During the cross country season, Wise earned all-region honors with a 20th place finish at the NCAA West Region Championships.

Paradee, who has a 3.82 GPA as a kinesiology major, is in the midst of a season where she won the GNAC indoor pole vault title and set GNAC records both indoors and outdoors. Paradee tied Central Washington’s McKenna Emmert for the GNAC indoor record with a mark of 12 feet, 10.25 inches, and went on to place seventh at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships. So far in the outdoor season, Paradee has set the GNAC record with a mark of 13 feet, 1.75 inches, at the Ken Shannon Invitational. She will compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on May 27.

Drake finished her undergraduate career with a 3.87 GPA in art and has a 4.00 GPA in her master’s in teaching program. Drake enters the NCAA Championships with the nation’s second best mark, a GNAC record of 171 feet, 11 inches, that won her the GNAC championship in May. She has the top entered mark in the meet and is the favorite to win the national title after placing second at the 2016 NCAA Championships.

McMullin, who has a 3.93 GPA as an English major, repeated as the GNAC outdoor triple jump champion with a winning mark of 39 feet, 6.5 inches. She finished with a season best of 40 feet, 3.25 inches, at April’s Bryan Clay Invite. The mark ranks No. 2 on the WWU all-time list and No. 3 on the GNAC all-time list.

Ashcroft, who has a 3.85 GPA as a health science major, won GNAC titles indoors in both the 60 meters and 200 meters and became just the second women’s athlete in GNAC history to be a four-time indoor champion in a single event. She reset her own conference records in both the 60 meters (7.54 seconds) and the 200 meters (24.09) and went on to place seventh at the NCAA Championships, earning All-American status. Despite being hampered by injuries much of the spring, Ashcroft finished second in the 100 meters and fourth in the 200 meters at the GNAC Outdoor Championships.