By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – For the fourth consecutive academic year Western Washington University emerged as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Sports champion with the results being announced on Tuesday.
 
Overall it is the 16th GNAC All-Sports trophy for WWU since the league was founded in 2001-02. The trophy is designed to reward the top overall athletic performance by an institution within the confines of GNAC play in a given academic year. The GNAC All-Sports trophy has been awarded 22 times since the conference’s inception, with no trophy given during the COVID-impacted 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years.
 

2024-25 GNAC All-Sports Trophy - Final Standings
Rank	School	Points
1	Western Washington	9.19
2	Central Washington	7.34
3	Simon Fraser	6.74
4	Western Oregon	6.25
5	Alaska Anchorage	6.09
6	Northwest Nazarene	5.72
7	Alaska Fairbanks	5.50
8	Seattle Pacific	4.88
9	Montana State Billings	4.45
10	Saint Martin's	3.34

The Vikings won nine total GNAC trophies during the 2024-25 academic year, garnering 9.19 points to top the overall school leaderboard. WWU also claimed the men’s all-sport title with 8.93 points and the women’s all-sport title with 8.87 points. Central Washington University finished second in the overall standings with 7.34 points and Simon Fraser was third with 6.74 points.
 
Six total trophies achieved by the Vikings’ cross country and track & field program did the bulk of the lifting during 2024-25, as WWU continued its dominance across the three sports. Sweeping all six of the women’s and men’s titles between cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field for the second straight year, the Vikings upped their overall streak to 14 consecutive crowns across the three sports dating back to the spring of 2023. Ben Stensland was voted by his peers as the GNAC Coach of the Year in all six sports after piloting the program to the unprecedented run of success.
 
WWU also won its second straight GNAC title in softball, cruising through the regular season with a conference record of 21-3 to run away with the crown. The Vikings then swept their way through the GNAC Championships to grab their second straight conference tournament title and went on to reach the NCAA Division II World Series for the second year in a row. WWU completed another historic softball campaign with an overall record of 47-13 while being led by eighth-year head coach and GNAC co-Coach of the Year Sheryl Gilmore.
 
The Vikings’ other GNAC title came last fall in women’s soccer, when they went unbeaten in conference play at 11-0-3 to accumulate 36 points and win the trophy by nine points over the next closest teams. Led by longtime head coach Travis Connell, who was named GNAC Coach of the Year for the eighth time, The Vikings went 14-4-5 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA West Region Championships.
 
Central Washington’s runner-up finish in the all-sports standings was fueled by a pair of conference championships won in 2024-25. The Wildcat volleyball team won its first GNAC trophy since 2005, going 16-2 in league play and advancing to the NCAA West Region Championships with an overall record of 18-7. Mario Andaya was named GNAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career, after delivering the Wildcats’ third title since the league was formed in 2001.
 
CWU’s other crown came in men’s basketball, as the Wildcats won a tight race over Northwest Nazarene by one game with a league record of 14-4. Behind the leadership of GNAC Coach of the Year Brandon Rinta, CWU went 22-10 overall and reached the second round of the NCAA West Region Championships.
 
Also collecting a pair of GNAC crowns during the 2024-25 academic year was Simon Fraser, which took third in the overall standings. The Red Leafs swept the GNAC Golf Championships women’s and men’s titles in April at the Coeur d’Alene Resort, with both genders advancing to the NCAA West Region Championships. In her first full year as the head coach of both programs, Krysta Schaus delivered a pair of trophies for SFU. The Red Leafs also finished second overall in the women’s all-sports standings with 7.20 points.
 
Other GNAC full members to each win one crown included Alaska Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene and Western Oregon. The Seawolves picked up the GNAC women’s basketball regular-season title, going 16-2 in conference play to win the league for a record ninth time. Behind GNAC Coach of the Year Ryan McCarthy, who recently departed for the head coaching position at Fresno State, UAA went 28-5 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA West Region Championships, after also winning the GNAC Championships tournament title.
 
Northwest Nazarene’s baseball team is still in the midst of what has become the greatest season in conference history, as the Nighthawks are one win away from reaching the Division II World Series finals. NNU broke the GNAC record for wins in a season, with a current record of 46-14 after Monday night’s 5-3 triumph over No. 1 Tampa. Head coach Joe Schaefer helped his squad to a dominant record of 27-5 in conference play as the Nighthawks captured their second straight regular-season title and fourth overall. NNU went on to win the GNAC Championships tournament, the NCAA West Region Championships and NCAA Super Regionals to propel them to Cary, N.C. for the second time in the last five seasons.
 
Western Oregon made history in the fall of 2024, hoisting the GNAC men’s soccer trophy in just its third season of existence. After coming inches away from the crown in 2023, second-year head coach Michael Behonick lifted his squad to the top of the table with a conference record of 9-3 and 27 points. WOU then made waves at the NCAA Championships, defeating Point Loma 2-0 in the opening round before a narrow, 3-2 loss to No. 1 Colorado State Pueblo. The Wolves completed the stellar campaign with an overall record of 14-5-1.