INDIANAPOLIS – Jessica Pixler, who won a combined12 NCAA Division II championships in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, and also earned numerous academic honors in four years at Seattle Pacific University, is one of three female finalists for the NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program.

Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) is now in her first year of postgraduate work at the University of Colorado. She also is competing in outdoor track for the Buffaloes this spring, and last Friday at the Stanford Invitational set an early-season world-leading time of 15 minutes, 25.68 seconds in the 5,000 meters. Pixler had one year of outdoor eligibility remaining because she missed her sophomore outdoor season at SPU with a back injury.

The Byers program recognizes one male and one female student-athlete who have a record of outstanding academic achievement and have shown the potential for success in graduate study. It is named in honor of the former NCAA executive director who was instrumental in emphasizing academic excellence among student-athletes.

Interviews with all three finalists will be conducted in mid April, and the winners will be announced later this spring.

Pixler graduated from SPU last June with a 3.93 grade-point average as an English major. She currently is studying at Colorado on an NCAA post-graduate scholarship. She was a three-time winner of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Scholar Athlete of the Year award for both cross country and indoor track, and won that organization's honor for outdoor track in 2010.

She also was a three-time USTFCCCA Academic All-American, was a three-time CoSIDA (college sports information directors) Academic All-American, and was the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for women's track and cross country for all NCAA and NAIA divisions in 2010.

The Great Northwest Athletic Conference recognized Pixler as its Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2010. And, in addition to being named the over Seattle Pacific Athlete of the Year an unprecedented four straight times, Pixler was honored with a Falcon Award for Excellence last spring. Those awards are presented to SPU seniors for their success in athletics, academics and community service.

On the track at Colorado, Pixler has picked up right where she left off Seattle Pacific. On March19, she won her inaugural race for the Buffs, breezing to a 17-second victory in the 1,500 meters at the Potts Invitational on Colorado's home track in Boulder. Her time of 4 minutes, 29.55 seconds was a Potts Field record.