SEATTLE – Jessica Pixler has pulled off four-peats on the track and on the cross country course.

Now, the Seattle Pacific senior has done it in the banquet hall, too.

Pixler has been named the winner of SPU's Ron Grady Athlete of the Year Award for the fourth straight time. The award was presented on Thursday night as part of the 2010 athletic awards banquet at Upper Gwinn Commons.

Pixler thus became the first Falcon to win the award four times. The only other athlete to win it even three times was Bente Moe – another star distance runner – in 1987, 88 and 89.

"I can honestly say this has been the best four years of my life," Pixler said. "And it doesn't have anything to do with running around a track. It has to do with the people here at SPU and all the fun times we had and how everyone cares about each other. Throughout my career, I've been asked why I ran Division II instead of Division I. But now, after four years here, I know I made the right decision to come to SPU."

Just last Saturday, Pixler concluded her Falcon career by winning the 1,500 meters at the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships in Charlotte, N.C. That was her 12th national championship. Pixler won three cross country crowns, six indoor track titles and three outdoor track titles. Her haul this year included cross country, the indoor mile, the indoor distance medley (along with Jane Larson, Jennifer Pike and Lisa Anderberg) and the outdoor 1,500.

The other major honors bestowed on Thursday in front of a capacity crowd of 300 were the annual Falcon Awards for Excellence. Those go to seniors who combine athletic, academic and leadership excellence not only during their senior years, but throughout their SPU careers.

From an initial group of 11, Seattle Pacific coaches selected six winners: women's soccer player Jocelyn Charette, rower Katie Degner, women's basketball player Daesha Henderson, men's soccer player Alex Nelson, and cross country/track runners Jane Larson and Pixler.

Letter blankets were given to 21 seniors who earned four letters in their respective sports. And 24 student-athletes received recognition for maintaining a quarterly grade-point average of 3.50 or higher for three consecutive quarters dating back to spring 2009.

Justin Felt and Suzie Strickler became the latest members of the C. Clifford McCrath 101 Club for posting the highest cumulative GPA among the four-year letterwinners. Strickler, winner of an NCAA post-graduate scholarship, has a 3.99 in exercise science, and Felt carries a 3.847 GPA in computer science.

Also recognized during the evening were SPU's district, regional and All-American academic honorees and winners of various special awards (Athlete of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Newcomer of the Year) from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.