Thursday, July 13, 2023

PORTLAND, Ore. – Honoring the top of the class in both academic and athletic achievement, a record 364 student-athletes are receiving the 2022-23 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Faculty Athletic Representative Scholar-Athlete Award, presented by Barnes & Noble College.

The 125 male student-athletes and 239 female student-athletes recognized surpasses the previous record of 323 set during the 2020-21 academic year. This marks the third consecutive year that over 300 student-athletes have been honored.

The Faculty Athletic Representative Scholar-Athlete Award recognizes all student-athletes listed on any squad at a GNAC institution, regardless of whether the sport is a GNAC championship sport, that have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.85 or greater. Conference affiliate members could nominate only student-athletes from the sport in which they compete in the GNAC.

The list includes 188 repeat recipients, which accounts for 51.3% of the total honorees. The list also includes 88 student-athletes (40 men, 48 women) that finished the 2022-23 academic year with a 4.00 GPA or greater (Simon Fraser grades on a Canadian system that awards a 4.33 GPA for an A-plus).

Two Simon Fraser student-athletes, senior men’s golfer Ryan Stolys and senior women’s cross country/track and field athlete Emily Chilton, were recognized for an unprecedented sixth time.

The list also includes eight athletes that are receiving their fifth FAR Scholar-Athlete Award: Northwest Nazarene seniors McKenzie Lee (volleyball) and Natalie Sullivan (volleyball), Saint Martin’s senior Katherine Swor (women’s golf), Simon Fraser seniors Jordan Schmidt (men’s track and field) and Sophie Klassen (women’s Basketball) and Western Washington seniors Gus Diehl (soccer) and Anna Maracich (women's soccer) junior Claire Henninger (women’s soccer).

The list includes 64 three-time honorees (12 men, 52 women) and 28 four-time selections (eight men, 20 women).

Central Washington led all conference institutions with 46 FAR Scholar-Athlete Award recipients. Alaska Anchorage finished with 44 selections and Saint Martin’s finished with 42 recipients. Alaska Anchorage and Central Washington led the way with 19 men’s honorees apiece. Northwest Nazarene led the conference with 26 women’s honorees.

A faculty athletic representative (FAR) is a member of the faculty at an NCAA member institution who has been designated to serve as a liaison between the institution’s faculty and the athletic department. The FAR serves as a representative of the institution in conference and NCAA affairs.

The role of the FAR is “to ensure that the academic institution establishes and maintains the appropriate balance between academics and athletics.”