GNAC All-Academic cross country release

SPOKANE – Three-peats don't happen just on the cross country course for the Seattle Pacific Falcons. They happen in the classroom, too.

Jessica  Pixler, who won her third consecutive NCAA Division II XC title on Nov. 21, is one of a half-dozen Falcon runners named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic team for the third time.

Fellow seniors Suzie Strickler, Lisa Anderberg, Jane Larson, Kate Harline and Chad Meis also made the conference grade for the third time of their careers.

SPU sophomores Natty Plunkett, Margaret Hanscom, Mary Williams, Daniel Hamilton and Nathanael Sleight all earned the first GNAC All-Academic honors.

Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) has a 3.92 grade-point average as an English major. She already has two Scholar Athlete of the Year awards from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (2007 and 2008). Just last week, she was named the USTFCCCA's Female National Cross Country Athlete of the Year.

Strickler (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) has a near-perfect 3.99 GPA in exercise science and completed a comeback this year from a major foot injury. She was Seattle Pacific's second runner across the finish line at nationals, and earned the NCAA's Elite 88 award for D-2 women's cross country for her performance on the course and in class.

Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) has a 3.82 GPA as an English major, and was part of a three-runner pack at nationals – along with Strickler and Plunkett – who finished within one second and three places of each other, helping the Falcons bring home the fourth-place team trophy,

Anderberg (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak HS) has a 3.91 GPA in global development studies, and Harline (Orem, Utah) carries a 3.52 in religious studies as both of them gained their third GNAC academic awards.

Meis (Renton, Wash./Seattle Christian HS), who set the pace all season for the Seattle Pacific men, has a 3.45 GPA in electrical engineering. Meis ran 11th at the conference championships and was 21st at the West Regionals. He also ran his first sub 25-minute time for a 10-kilometer race on Oct. 3 at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem, Ore.

Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) sports a 3.90 GPA in psychology. Hanscom (Lake Oswego, Ore.) has a 3.68 in elementary education, and Williams (Lake Jackson, Texas) has a 3.23 in biology.

Hamilton (Missoula, Mont.) is a computer science major with a 3.36 GPA, and Sleight (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) is majoring in physics and has a 3.29.