Thursday, May 26, 2022

PORTLAND, Ore. – Four GNAC student-athletes who have gone the distance both in the classroom and on the track have been named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Division II Academic All-District 8 Men’s Track and Field/Cross Country Team.

Western Oregon’s Justin Crosswhite was named to the Academic All-District Team for the third consecutive year while Northwest Nazarene’s Tyler Shea was selected for the second time. Named to the team for the first time are Western Washington’s Mac Franks and Western Oregon’s Bailey Smith.

Crosswhite, a senior with a 4.00 GPA in Western Oregon’s graduate organizational leadership program, competed during the outdoor season only in 2021-22. He closed his collegiate career with a seventh-place finish in the 1,500 meters at the GNAC Outdoor Championships and was 14th in the 800 meters.

Shea, a senior academically with a 3.94 GPA as a mathematics major, set the Northwest Nazarene record outdoors in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:23.08 and set NNU’s record indoors in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:28.81. Shea placed fourth in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meters at the GNAC Indoor Championships. He went on to place second in both the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters at the GNAC Outdoor Championships.

During the cross country season, Shea placed 13th at the GNAC Championships and placed 69th at the NCAA West Regional Championships.

Franks, a senior academically with a 3.57 GPA as an electrical and computer engineering major, earned All-GNAC honors with a sixth-place finish at the GNAC Cross Country Championships and earned All-West Region honors with an 11th-place finish at the NCAA West Regional Championships. Franks went on to win the 800 meters, placed second in the mile and sixth in the 3,000 meters at the GNAC Indoor Championships. He placed sixth in the 800 meters at the Division II Indoor Championships, earning All-America honors.

During the outdoor season, Franks won the steeplechase at the GNAC Outdoor Championships with a time of 9:00.76 and went on to place second in the 1,500 meters and third in the 800 meters. In the course of the year, Franks set WWU records outdoors in the 1,500, mile and steeplechase and indoors in the 800, mile and 3,000 meters. He is competing at this weekend’s Division II Outdoor Championships in the 1,500 meters.

Smith, a junior academically with a 3.70 GPA as a communications major, placed 17th at the GNAC Cross Country Championships and placed ninth in the 5,000 meters and 11th in the 3,000 meters at the GNAC Indoor Championships. During the outdoor season, Smith placed fourth in the steeplechase at the GNAC Championships and fifth in the 5,000 meters.

With their selections, the four will be eligible for selection to the CoSIDA Division II Track and Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Team, which will be announced on Wednesday, June 22.

The Academic All-District teams are nominated and voted upon by members of CoSIDA and recognize student-athletes of sophomore standing or higher who are starters or significant reserves for their teams with a minimum GPA of 3.30 or better. Members of the Academic All-District 8 team are selected from athletes from the GNAC, CCAA and PacWest Conference.