CLEVELAND – After racing to two more All-American honors on the track, McKayla Fricker now has one in the classroom, as well.
 
Fricker, who raced to an NCAA national championship in May and graduated earlier this month, was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America second team for cross country and track.
 
The awards are given by the Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America.
 
It was the fifth academic honor this school year for Fricker (Canby, Ore.), who has a 3.32 grade-point average in integrated studies. She earned a spot on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference all-academic team for cross country last fall, and for track this spring. She also was on the CoSIDA All-District team, which combines cross country and track into one group for its award purposes.
 
She also received national all-academic honors in cross country from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association last fall. (The USTFCCCA track awards are still pending.)
 
Fricker won the Division II 800-meter championship on May24 in Allendale, Mich., clocking a career-best time of 2 minutes, 6.18 seconds, and coming across the finish line more than a full second ahead of Shawnee Carnett from Concord (W.V.). At the NCAA indoor meet in March, Fricker finished second in the 800.
 
Prior to nationals, Fricker won her third straight GNAC 800-meter title, and also won the outdoor 1,500 and indoor mile in conference competition this year.
 
For her career, Fricker finished with 10 GNAC titles (six individual, four relays) and six All-American awards.  In addition, she was named one of this year's six recipients of the Falcon Award for Excellence, the highest honor a Seattle Pacific student-athlete can receive, and presented for academic and athletic achievement.
 
Fricker was one of four from SPU to make a CoSIDA All-America team in 2013-14. David Downs earned a spot on the first team for men's basketball, while Katie Benson was a second-teamer and Suzanna Ohlsen a third-teamer for women's basketball.