Thursday, February 23, 2023

PORTLAND, Ore. – Fourteen GNAC basketball players are being honored for academic and athletic achievement with selection to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams.

Three student-athletes from Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington were named to the CSC Academic All-District Men’s Basketball Team. Eleven performers from Montana State Billings, Northwest Nazarene, Seattle Pacific, Simon Fraser and Western Washington earned CSC Women’s Basketball Academic All-District honors. All 14 earned Academic All-District honors for the first time.

Nominees to the program must be of sophomore standing or greater and must be a starter or important reserve on their team with a minimum GPA of 3.50 or greater. Players must have participated in at least 50 percent of their team’s game. In a change to the program for 2022-23, all nominees who met the selection criteria and were nominated by their institutions were named to the Academic All-District Team. Institutions could nominate a maximum of four players for the team.

Western Washington led all GNAC institutions with six selections, four women and two men. Montana State Billings finished with four selections, all to the women’s team.

Nominated by members of College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA), the Academic All-America program has honored more than 38,000 deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all college divisions since its inception in 1952.

The conference’s honorees are now eligible for selection to the CSC Academic All-America Basketball Teams. The men’s teams will be announced on March 14 with the women’s teams announced on March 15.

COLLEGE SPORTS COMMUNICATORS ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT BASKETBALL TEAMS
GNAC Selections
MEN
Alaska Anchorage: Vojtech Rezek
Western Washington: Daniel Hornbuckle, Lucas Holden

WOMEN
Montana State Billings: Natalie Andreas, Kortney Nelson, Cariann Kunkel, Dyauni Boyce
Northwest Nazarene: McKenna Castledine
Seattle Pacific: Natalie Hoff
Simon Fraser: Sophie Klassen
Western Washington: Avery Dykstra, Maddy Grandbois, Brooke Walling, Carley Zaragosa