Pixler Wins National Track Athlete of the Year Award

Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific has been named the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

That gives the Falcon senior a sweep of this year's three national awards.

Last fall, the USTFCCCA named Pixler (Sammamish, Wash. - Eastlake) its Cross Country Athlete of the Year for D-2, and in March, she was honored as the Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.

Pixler is just the second woman to win all three of those awards in the same school year. The only one to do so previously was Mandy Zemba of Grand Valley State (Mich.) in 2005-06.

Last weekend at the Division II national outdoor finals in Charlotte, N.C., Pixler won the 1,500 meters for the second straight year and for the third time in her career.

That was Pixler's 12th NCAA championship. In addition to those three in outdoor track, she also won three cross country titles, four indoor mile titles, an indoor 5,000-meter title, and was part of this past winter's victorious indoor distance medley relay team.

Brown, Pixler Voted Top Athletes; Halsell, Lerum Coaches-of-the-Years

Brown	Pixler

Ryan Brown of Western Washington and Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific have been selected the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Male and Female Track and Field Athletes of the Year. Both athletes also won the same award earlier this season for Indoor Track and Field.

Brown, a junior from Bellingham, won the NCAA Division II national title last weekend, vaulting a GNAC-record 17-8 ½. That mark is the 10th best this spring among all collegians and was more than a foot higher than the second-place finisher at the national meet.

Earlier he also won the GNAC outdoor title with a vault of 16-10 ¾ and also finished seventh in the high jump with a leap of 5-10 ¾.

Pixler, a senior from Sammamish, won the NCAA national title in the 1500 meters with a time of 4:15.43 after earlier sweeping the 800 and 1500 meters at the conference meet with meet-record times of 2:06.38 and 4:24.01 and anchoring SPU to a win the 4x400 relay in a time of 3:53.78.

The GNAC Athlete of the Year award is the 10th for Pixler, who has won 12 national titles including three in cross country, six in indoor track and three in outdoor track.

She won the GNAC Cross Country Athlete of the Year (2006-09) and the GNAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year award (2007-10) four times each. It is her second GNAC Outdoor Athlete of the Year award. She previously won it in her freshman season in 2007.

During the regular season, she also set conference records in the 800 meters (2:04.89), 1500 (4:11.06) and 5000 (15:44.07).

Also winning special awards were Crystal Sims of Seattle Pacific, Anthony Zackery of Western Washington, Anthony Wright of Central Washington, Micah Chelimo of Alaska Anchorage and Carolanne Powers of Western Oregon.

Sims and Zackery were voted the GNAC Female and Male Newcomers of the Year, respectively. Wright and Chelimo tied in the balloting for the GNAC Male Freshman of the Year, while Powers was selected the GNAC Female Freshman of the Year.

Honored with GNAC Men's Team and Women's Team Coach of the Year awards were Kelven “Pee Wee” Halsell of Western Washington and Karl Lerum of Seattle Pacific, respectively.

Sims (Jr., Portland, OR) scored 35 points in the conference meet – the ninth highest total in meet history - and won five all-conference awards, the most for any track and field athlete since 2005 to lead Seattle Pacific to the conference team title. She won the heptathlon (4,769), finished second in the 200 (25.37) and 100 hurdles (14.73) and third in the 100 (12.50). She also ran on SPU's winning 4x400 relay team.

Zackery (Jr., Spokane, WA) placed sixth in the 100 meters (11.12) in the conference meet. During the season, he had the eighth best 100-meter time (10.97) and the eighth best long jump (21-11 ½).

Wright (Lakewood, WA) set two conference records and three meet records and had three provisional national qualifying times in the conference meet. He won the 100 in a meet and conference record time of 10.43 and the 200 in a meet-record time of 21.36. He also led CWU to a meet and conference record in the 4x100 relay with a time of 41.10. He finished 10 th in the 100 meters at the national meet in a time of 10.57.

Chelimo (Kapkoi, Kenya) placed seventh in the steeplechase at the national meet in a time of 8:59.23 after winning the same event in the conference meet in a time of 9:02.79. He also placed third in the 5000 (14:46.69) and fourth in the 1500 (3:51.91) at the conference meet. Earlier in the season he set the GNAC record in the steeplechase with a time of 8:49.31.

Powers (Keizer, OR) placed fifth in the national meet in the women's javelin (144-9) after winning the conference title with a meet-record throw of 154-9, which is the third best in conference history.

Halsell, a 1981 graduate of Wayland Baptist, earned the Men's Coach of the Year award. It is his ninth GNAC Coach of the Year award, including four in men's cross country, two in men's indoor track and field, two in men's outdoor track and field and one in women's outdoor track and field.

Ninety-Three Named To GNAC Track & Field Academic Team

Carlson	Karr

A total of 93 student-athletes – 62 women and 31 men - have been named to the 2010 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Track and Field Academic all-star team.

Krinda Carlson of Saint Martin's and Michelle Phillips of Northwest Nazarene head up the all-stars with perfect 4.00 GPAs. The top scholar on the men's team is Justin Karr of Western Oregon with a 3.99 GPA.

Western Washington placed the most athletes on the men's academic team with eight. Western Oregon and Northwest Nazarene had five each. Leading the women's team is Northwest Nazarene with 17 academic all-stars and Seattle Pacific with 12.

Eighteen of the all-stars including six men and 12 women made the team for the third year in a row including Paul Rottich and Laura Carr of Alaska Anchorage; Tyler Fischer, Raquel Gonzalez and Mary Seidler of Central Washington, and Alex Eaton, Ashley Morman, Chelsey Jones, Lindsay Brady and MJ Usabel of Northwest Nazarene.

Also earning their third academic award were Carlson of Saint Martin's; Justin Felt, Chad Meis, Jessica Pixler, Lisa Anderberg, Jane Larson and Kate Harline of Seattle Pacific and Matt O'Connell of Western Washington.

Most of the academic all-stars will be in Monmouth this weekend to compete in the ninth annual GNAC track-and-field championships

Thirteen Named To CoSIDA Academic Team

Thirteen Great Northwest Athletic Conference athletes have been named to the CoSIDA Track and Field and Cross Country Academic all-district team.

Of the 13, 11 were first team selections and are now eligible to be considered for the CoSIDA Academic All-American team.

Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific was selected to the team for the third time, while SPU's Suzie Strickler earned her second all-district selection. She was also voted to the team in 2008. Jordan Welling of Western Washington was a repeat selection from last season.

Men: First Team - Anthony Zackery, WWU (Business Administration & Finance, Sr., 3.93, Spokane, WA); Alex Harrison, WWU (Kineisiology/Pre Physical Therapy, Jr., 3.89, Edmonds, WA); Eric Brill, WWU (English, Jr., 3.86, Kent, WA); Einar Often, UAF (Resource and Applied Economics, Sr., 3.70); Jordan Welling, WWU (Manufacturing, Jr., 3.56, Burlington, WA); Chad Meis, SPU (Electrical Engineering, Sr., 3.51, Renton, WA).

Women: First Team - Suzie Stricker, SPU (Exercise Science, Sr., 3.99, Richland, WA); Jessica Pixler, SPU (English, Sr., 3.93, Sammamish, WA); Lisa Anderberg, SPU (Global Development Studies, Sr., 3.92, Edmonds, WA); Jane Larson, SPU (English, Sr., 3.83, Fall City, WA); Laura Carr, UAA (Art, 3.59, Sr., South Bend, Ind.). Second Team - Theresia Schnurr, UAF (Physics, So., 3.98, Buhlertal, Germany); Natty Plunkett, SPU (Psychology, So., 3.94, Bellevue, WA).

Track & Field News Notes / Indoor Recaps / Outdoor Recaps