• GNAC Academic All-Sports release (pdf)
 
PORTLAND, Ore. – More often than not, the Falcons finish on top in the athletic arena. This year, they placed atop the academic leaderboard as well.
 
Led by five teams that compiled the highest grade point averages in their respective sports, Seattle Pacific won the 2014 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Academic All-Sports championship that was announced Thursday.
 
The Falcons outpointed Northwest Nazarene 156-147 to win their fifth overall title in the 13-year history of the award. SPU was also the academic all-sports champion in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2011. Defending champion Saint Martin's finished third with 146 points.

 

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"I'm really excited to hear this news and extremely proud of our teams," SPU athletic director Erin O'Connell said. "We had a concerted effort this year to have all teams post a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 or higher for each quarter and we did, in fact, reach that goal.
 
"We also had a record-setting 116 student-athletes make the Dean's List for this past spring quarter. Certainly the efforts of our coaches and support staff should not go unnoticed in the help that they provide in the shepherding and monitoring of the student-athletes."
 
The Falcons finished in a three-way tie with Northwest Nazarene and Saint Martin's for the men's academic all-sports championship. All three schools finished with 70 points. It is the first tie in the history of the award.
 
The SPU men were the league's top academic group for the fourth time in the last five years and the ninth time since the conference was founded in 2001-02.
 
Montana State Billings won its third consecutive women's academic all-sports title with 91 points and SPU was second with 86 points.
 

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Seattle Pacific earned the best team GPA in five different sports including men's soccer. Under the direction of Coach Mark Collings, the Falcons captured their fifth consecutive conference classroom crown, and ninth overall, with a 3.34 GPA.
 
The SPU booters had a 12-4-3 record and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the third straight season. They established a new school record with a 14-game unbeaten streak during 2013.
 
Soccer produced SPU's top two senior scholar-athletes in Blaine Carver (3.89) for the men and Stephanie Harold (3.79) for the women. Both of them graduated in June with business administration degrees.
 

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Coached by Chuck Sekyra, SPU topped all GNAC women's soccer teams with a 3.50 grade point average.
 
The Falcons fielded two of the three teams that were champions both on the field and in the classroom. SPU was the women's soccer league tournament winner and the men's basketball team captured both the GNAC regular-season and conference tournament titles.

The Falcons were the top academic men's basketball team for the fourth year in a row, this season with a 3.36 GPA.
 

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Coach Ryan Looney's Falcons forged a 26-6 record en route to the GNAC's regular-season and tournament championships. SPU participated in the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season, the longest active streak among Division II men's basketball programs.
 
The Falcons were the GNAC's top academic women's basketball team with a 3.59 GPA and the SPU men turned in the top GPA among the conference's men's track and field teams with a 3.31 figure.
 
Along with the five teams that won, SPU had four others among the top three in their respective sports: volleyball (second at 3.46), women's cross country (second at 3.63), men's cross country (third at 3.22) and women's track and field (third at 3.40).
 
The Academic all-sports standings are based on the cumulative grade point averages of all the athletes on the official team rosters including redshirts. Points are awarded on two-point increments.
 
Final 2013-14 GNAC Academic All-Sports Standings

Overall (Top 5)
1. Seattle Pacific 156, 2. Northwest Nazarene 147, 3. Saint Martin's 146, 4. Montana State Billings 142, 5. Central Washington 107.
 
Men (Top 5)
1. Northwest Nazarene, Saint Martin's and Seattle Pacific 70, 4. Montana State Billings 51, 5. Central Washington 35.
 
Women (Top 5)
1. Montana State Billings 91, 2. Seattle Pacific 86, 3, Northwest Nazarene 77, 4. Saint Martin's 76, 5. Central Washington 72.
 
Men's Sports (Top 3)
Cross Country – 1. Saint Martin's 3.35, 2. Alaska Fairbanks 3.31, Seattle Pacific 3.22. 
Soccer – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.34, 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.23, 3. South Dakota Mines 3.21.
Football – 1. Azusa Pacific 2.92, 2. Dixie State 2.90, 3. Central Washington 2.76.
Basketball – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.36, 2. Alaska Anchorage 3.16, 3. Saint Martin's 3.05.
Baseball – 1. Montana State Billings 3.09; 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.08; 3. Saint Martin's 2.92. 
Track-and-Field – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.31, 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.21, 3. Central Washington 3.07.
Golf – 1. Saint Martin's 3.38, 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.11, 3. Montana State Billings 3.00. 
 
Women's Sports (Top 3)
Volleyball – 1. Central Washington 3.52, 2. Seattle Pacific 3.46, 3. Alaska Fairbanks 3.31.
Cross Country – 1. Saint Martin's 3.65, 2. Seattle Pacific 3.63, 3. Montana State Billings 3.49.  
Soccer – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.50, 2. Saint Martin's 3.47, 3. Central Washington 3.39.
Basketball – 1. Seattle Pacific 3.59, 2. Montana State Billings 3.57, 3. Northwest Nazarene 3.23. 
Softball – 1. Saint Martin's 3.34, 2. Central Washington 3.25, 3. Northwest Nazarene and MSU Billings 3.18. 
Track and Field – 1.   Montana State Billings 3.53, 2. Northwest Nazarene 3.43, 3. Seattle Pacific 3.40. 
Golf – 1. Montana State Billings 3.45, 2. Saint Martin's 3.44, 3, Northwest Nazarene 3.21.