Tuesday, July 27, 2021

NEW ORLEANS – Buoyed by 17 individual champions, a total of 29 GNAC student-athletes and teams from seven conference institutions have received academic honors for the 2021 season by the U.S. Track and Field & Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Fourteen men and 15 women were named Division II All-Academic Athletes. Central Washington, Northwest Nazarene, Seattle Pacific, Western Oregon and Western Washington saw both their men’s and women’s programs named as Division II All-Academic Teams. The five were joined by the Alaska Anchorage men’s program and the Montana State Billings women’s program.

To be selected as an All-Academic Athlete, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA on a 4.00 scale, must have completed at last 24 semester hours or 36 quarter hours by the end of the semester and must have achieved an automatic or provisional qualifying mark during either the indoor or outdoor season. Over 325 men and 375 women earned All-Academic honors.

Teams named USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams must have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher, encompassing grades earned by all student-athletes of the institution’s NCAA squad list. Both awards require that the institution’s head coach be a member of the USTFCCCA.

The Seattle Pacific women had the sixth-highest GPA of all Division II women’s teams at 3.66 while the Falcons’ men were 14th among Division II teams at 3.35. The Alaska Anchorage men were 13th in the Division II standings at 3.36.

Of the 29 All-Academic Athletes from the GNAC, 17 of them won at least one conference title at May’s GNAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The list includes a quartet of double champions in Central Washington’s Braydon Maier (pole vault and decathlon), Western Washington’s Eric Hamel (5,000 meters, 10,000 meters) and Seattle Pacific’s Dania Holmberg (1,500 meters, 5,000 meters) and Renick Meyer (long jump, heptathlon).

USTFCCCA ALL-ACADEMIC TEAMS
Men: Alaska Anchorage, Central Washington, Northwest Nazarene, Seattle Pacific, Western Oregon, Western Washington
Women: Central Washington, Montana State Billings, Northwest Nazarene, Seattle Pacific, Western Oregon, Western Washington

USTFCCCA ALL-ACADEMIC ATHLETES
MEN
Central Washington: Braydon Maier, Ethan Tonder
Montana State Billings: Beau Ackerman, Isaiah Girard
Northwest Nazarene: Tyler Shea
Seattle Pacific: David Njeri, Jared Putney
Western Oregon: Justin Crosswhite
Western Washington: Mac Franks, Jeret Gillingham, Eric Hamel, Kaleb Korta, Kevin McDermott, Calahan Warren

WOMEN
Central Washington: Meagan Smallbeck
Northwest Nazarene: Kinsey Langin
Seattle Pacific: Grace Bley, Scout Cai, Dania Homberg, Renick Meyer, Ellie Rising, Julia Stepper
Western Oregon: Jenelle Hurley, Darian Wilson
Western Washington: Aliyah Dawkins, Karlie Hurley, Hannah Nienaber, Amanda Short, Natalie Vetto