Northwest Nazarene Sweeps GNAC All-Sports Academic Titles

Sanders

Northwest Nazarene University posted the best team grade point averages in four different sports in sweeping the 2007-08 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Academic All-Sports titles.

The Crusaders piled up a total of 145 points in winning their first GNAC Academic all-sports title. Seattle Pacific, which won titles in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06, edged defending champion Seattle University 132-130 for second place, while Montana State Billings nipped Saint Martin's 111-110 for fourth place.

The Crusaders also won their first-ever men's title, finishing first in both basketball and golf, and scoring a total of 65 points. Seattle Pacific (with 54 points) nipped Seattle University (52 points) and Saint Martin's (50 points) for second-place.

NNU, which won women's academic team titles in soccer and softball, won their fourth women's all-sports title in a photo finish. The Crusaders, who also finished first in 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2004-05, garnered 80 points, two more than Seattle University and Seattle Pacific. MSUB finished fourth with 70 points.

"We are very proud of the academic discipline our student-athletes have displayed over this past year,” NNU athletic director Rich Sanders said. “It has been a very good year both athletically and academically at NNU. Our student-athletes have done a great job dealing with the travel demands of our conference and the rigors of their academic programs.”

Seattle Pacific matched Northwest Nazarene's four team academic titles, posting the conference's best GPA in men's and women's cross country and men's and women's track and field. The Falcon women's cross country team was the only GNAC squad to finish first on both the field and in the classroom.

Three other schools also won academic teams. Saint Martin's claimed its seventh straight academic baseball title and also finished first in women's basketball. Montana State Billings won the academic crown in men's soccer and Western Oregon finished first in volleyball.

Seattle Pacific's cross country team posted the highest cumulative GPA (3.68) of any GNAC team .

Sixty-five of the conference's 96 teams (67.7 percent) posted cumulative GPAs of 3.00 or better, including all 10 women's cross country teams, all nine women's track and field teams and all eight women's soccer teams. Nine of the GNAC's 10 volleyball teams also had team GPAs of 3.00 or better. Forty-seven of the GNAC's 54 women's teams (87.0 percent) had GPAs of 3.00 or better.

The Academic all-sports standings are based on the cumulative grade point averages of all the athletes on the official team rosters.

Individual sport academic winners included:

Men: Cross Country – Seattle Pacific 3.38. Soccer – Montana State Billings 3.36. Basketball – Northwest Nazarene 3.25. Baseball – Saint Martin's 3.01. Track-and-Field – Seattle Pacific 3.41. Golf – Northwest Nazarene 2.99.

Women : Volleyball – Western Oregon 3.56. Cross Country – Seattle Pacific 3.68. Soccer – Northwest Nazarene 3.56. Basketball – Saint Martin's 3.51. Softball – Northwest Nazarene 3.55. Track and Field – Seattle Pacific 3.54.