Official CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine release

SEATTLE – Chalk up another national championship for Jessica Pixler.

The Seattle Pacific distance running star, who graduated earlier this month, has been named winner of the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year award for women's track and cross country.

Pixler won the award for the College Division (NCAA Division II, III and NAIA schools).

Fellow Falcon senior Lisa Anderberg was named a second-team Academic All-American.

Winner of 12 NCAA titles between cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) finished her studies as an English major at SPU with a 3.93 grade-point average.

Along with her numerous athletic honors, Pixler has earned a NCAA post-graduate scholarship. She also was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year and, for the third straight time, was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) D-2 Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Pixler was a GNAC All-Academic and CoSIDA Academic All-District choice for cross country and track, and was also was a USTFCCCA Academic All-American for cross country.

During her four years with the Falcons, Pixler won three straight national cross country championships, four straight indoor mile championships and three outdoor 1,500-meter championships. In addition, she won an indoor 5,000-meter title, and, this past March, ran the anchor leg on the NCAA-winning indoor distance medley relay team.

This spring, Pixler's final SPU outdoor track season was one for the books. She rewrote three long-standing school records, establishing new marks in the 800 meters (2:04.89), the 1,500 (4:11.06) and the 5,000 (15:44.07).

During the just-concluded school year, Pixler swept the GNAC and West Region Athlete of the Year honors for cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.  And, earlier this month, she was named SPU's Athlete of the Year for the fourth time, the first Falcon in any sport to do that.

Anderberg (Edmonds, Wash./Kamiak HS) wound up with a 3.92 GPA as a global development studies major. She also put together an impressive senior year for SPU. She was part of the fourth-place NCAA cross country trophy team last November, ran the third leg on the national champion indoor distance medley relay team in March, and then, in the final race of her SPU career, took eighth place in the 800 meters at the outdoor track nationals in May.

The indoor and outdoor track performances earned All-American status for Anderberg. She also was a GNAC All-Academic, and a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection for cross country and track, and was a USTFCCCA Academic All-American for cross country.