SEATTLE – A total of five Seattle Pacific women who competed in NCAA championship meets this school year, along with conference and regional star Chad Meis on the men's side, have earned spots on the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine academic All-District team for track and cross country.

Seniors Lisa Anderberg, Jane Larson, Jessica Pixler and Suzie Strickler were named to the women's first team. Sophomore Natty Plunkett gained a spot on the second team. Meis, also a senior, was on the men's first team.

Anderberg (Edmonds, Wash./Kamiak HS) capped her SPU running career on May 29 at the NCAA Division II meet in Charlotte, N.C. with an All-American eighth-place finish in the 800 meters. In March, she ran the third leg on the NCAA champion indoor track distance medley relay team, and last fall, she was part of the cross country team that brought home the fourth-place NCAA trophy. Anderberg has a 3.92 grade-point average as a global development studies major.

Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) was the No. 3 scorer for the Falcons on that cross country trophy team, and ran the leadoff leg on the distance medley relay team. She also placed third in the mile at NCAA indoors in March. Larson was an automatic in the 1,500 meters for the NCAA outdoor meet in May, but was sidelined with an injury. She is an English major with a 3.83 GPA and has an NCAA post-graduate scholarship.

Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) has continued to rack up awards, both athletically and academically. She won her 12th NCAA title by taking the 1,500 meters in Charlotte two weeks ago. Altogether, Pixler finished with three national cross country crowns, six indoor track championships and three outdoor track championships. Last Thursday, she was named the SPU Athlete of the Year for a record-setting fourth straight time, and also was named earlier this week as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Athlete and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She has a 3.93 GPA as an English major, and is an NCAA post-graduate scholarship winner.

Strickler (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) came back from a foot injury to run one final season of cross country for the Falcons and wound up as the team's No. 2 scorer at nationals last November. An exercise science major with a 3.99 GPA, Strickler was named the winner of the inaugural NCAA Elite 88 award for Division II cross country. That awards program was established this year to recognize the athlete with the top GPA at each of the 88 national championships. Strickler joined Larson and Pixler with an NCAA post-graduate scholarship.

Meis (Renton, Wash./Seattle Christian HS) was a steady and consistent performer for Seattle Pacific through all three seasons. This spring, he was an NCAA provisional qualifier in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and earned All-GNAC status in that event by finishing third at the conference meet, and he was the team's outdoor track MVP. Last fall, he ran in the NCAA West Regional cross country meet after an 11th-place finish at conference, and won the Falcons' MVP and Most Inspirational honors for the second time. Meis is an electrical engineering major with a 3.51 GPA.

Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) has been a top-5 scoring runner for the cross country team at nationals both years she has been here. She was the fourth Falcon across the line last fall. She was an NCAA provisional qualifier in the outdoor 5,000 meters for the second straight year. Plunkett has a 3.94 GPA as a psychology major.

As first-team selections, Anderberg, Larson, Pixler, Strickler and Meis now will be on the national ballot for academic All-American honors. Those teams will be announced June 22 (men) and June 24 (women).