Complete women's All-Academic team (PDF)
        Complete men's All-Academic team (PDF)
 
PORTLAND, Ore. – Whether its circumnavigating an oval, or cramming several events into a few hours, Seattle Pacific seniors Scout Cai, Kate Lilly, Sedona McNerney, and Katherine Walter know what it's like to perform at a high athletic level.
 
They know what it's like to perform at a high academic level, too.
 
The four Falcons, all of whom have run, jumped, or thrown in multiple NCAA championship events, have been named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic track and field team for the third time in their careers.
 
They were among the 14 SPU women who earned a place on the squad, and were joined by three members of the men's team.
 
Cai is

an exercise science major with a 3.68 grade-point average. At the GNAC indoor meet in February, she finished second in the pentathlon with 3,406 points. Over the years, she won the indoor pentathlon three times, the indoor poie vault once, and the outdoor pole vault once. Cai is a four-time All-American, two of those honors coming at last spring's outdoor nationals when she was seventh in the heptathlon and eighth in the pole vault.


 

Lilly carries a 3.76 GPA as a mathematics major and art minor. In February, she won her first-ever GNAC championship, taking the 3000 meters at the indoor meet in Nampa, and breaking 10 minutes for the first time with a 9:47.88. She also was fourth in the mile. Last May, Lilly got onto the NCAA outdoor awards stand for the first time with a fifth-place finish in the 5000 meters. She is a four-time All-American – twice indoors, twice outdoors.

 

McNerney has a 3.85 GPA in integrated studies. At this year's GNAC indoor meet, she scored in the 5000 meters by placing seventh – the second straight year she has contributed team points in that race. McNerney also was ninth in the 3000. Her best race as a Falcon came last spring at the conference outdoor championships in Monmouth, as she placed third in the 10,000.
 

Walter

has a near-perfect 3.97 GPA as an accounting major. A steady performer at the longer distances, she ran in three indoor meets this past winter. Walter came up big at last year's GNAC outdoor meet, when she placed second in the 10,000 with a personal-best time of 38:11.53.
 
A half-dozen SPU women team earned a spot on the team for the second time.
 
 

Senior Grace Bley is an exercise science major with a 3.79 GPA. She ran a personal-best 24.65 to place second in the 200-meter dash at GNAC indoors in February. She also was sixth in the 100 and anchored the third-place 4-by-400 relay. She has three conference 200 titles (two outdoors, one indoors) and is part of the current SPU school-record 4-by-100 relay. Junior Dania Holmberg was accepted for this year's NCAA indoor meet in the 5000 meters (No. 9 seed) and the 3000 (No. 12), before the meet was cancelled because of the coronavirus. She was second (by .07) behind Lilly in the 3K at GNAC indoors in February, placed third in the mile, and anchored the second-place distance medley relay. Last spring, Holmberg raced in the 1500 and 5000 at NCAA outdoors, placing 18^th in both.
 
 

Kellie May is a junior with a 3.65 GPA as a nursing major. She missed most of the indoor season with an injury, but was back in time for the GNAC meet, and scored in the triple jump by placing eighth. In SPU's only outdoor meet of the year before the season was canceled, she won the 100-meter hurdles and set a PR of 92-7 in the javelin at the Ed Boitano / Puget Sound Invitational. Junior Renick Meyer is a biology major with a 3.52 GPA. She was her usual busy self at GNAC indoors, placing third in the long jump with an indoor PR of 19 feet, 1¼ inches, third in the 60-meter hurdles and seventh in the 60-meter dash. Meyer won the long at the Jackson's / Nike Boise Invitational.

 

Julia Stepper has a 3.52 GPA in education certification. The junior has been a big contributor to SPU's success in sprints. At GNAC indoors, she was fourth in the 200, fifth in the 60, and ran the third leg on the third-place 4-by-4. In the preliminaries, Stepper broke 25 seconds in the 200 for the first time (24.96) and posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 7.67 in the 60. She ran anchor on last spring's school record 4-by-100 relay. Elizabeth Thompson, also a junior, has a 3.90 GPA majoring in history. She ran the 800-meter leg on the second-place DMR at conference in February. Last spring, Thompson came through with a crucial eighth-place point in the 1500 at GNAC outdoors.
 
 

Sophomores Madison Licari, Emily Northey, Krystal Oien, and Kelsey Washenberger all made the team for the first time. Licari is a pole vaulter who placed third at GNAC indoors and has a perfect 4.00 GPA as a mathematics major. Northey also is a pole vaulter, and is a psychology major with a 3.39 GPA. Oien does middle distance and is a business administration major with a 3.80 GPA. She was part of the second-place DMR at conference. Washenberger is a distance runner with a 3.90 GPA in applied human biology.

 

Distance runner Elius Graff made the All-Academic men's team for the second time. A junior, Graff is a computer engineering major with a 3.62 grade-point average. He led off Seattle Pacific's seventh-place distance medley relay at GNAC indoor, and also placed 12^th in the mile. Graff was eighth in the 5000 meters at last spring's conference outdoor meet, the first time he scored an individual team point.


 

Junior Ben Hansen and sophomore Brayden Schultz are on the team for the first time. Hansen, a junior, is an art major carrying a 3.24 GPA. He ran the 800-meter leg on the seventh-place distance medley relay at GNAC indoors in February. Hansen was 16^th in the 800 meters. Schultz has a 3.75 GPA as an exercise science major. He anchored the DMR, and also ran in the mile, placing 11^th.
 
All-Academic team members must have a minimum GPA of 3.20 and be a letterwinner for the current season.
 
 
GNAC ALL-ACADEMIC TRACK & FIELD
WOMEN
Seattle Pacific
Name                                          Academic major                             Year        GPA       Hometown
* Grace Bley            Exercise Science           Sr    3.79   Puyallup, Wash.
*+ Scout Cai            Exercise Science           Sr    3.68   Colfax, Wash.
* Dania Holmberg        Psychology                 Jr    3.89   Eagle, Idaho
Madison Licari          Mathematics                So    4.00   Milton, Wash.
*+ Kate Lilly           Mathematics                Sr    3.76   Renton, Wash.
* Kellie May            Nursing                    Jr    3.65   Irvine, Calif.
*+ Sedona McNerney      Integrated Studies         Sr    3.85   Fair Oaks, Calif.
* Renick Meyer          Biology                    Jr    3.52   Gresham, Ore.
Emily Northey           Psychology                 So    3.39   Brier, Wash.
Krystal Oien            Business Administration    So    3.80   Ridgefield, Wash.
* Julia Stepper         Education Certification    Jr    3.52   Ariel, Wash.
* Elizabeth Thompson    History                    Jr    3.90   Portland, Ore.
*+ Katherine Walter     Accounting                 Sr    3.97   Brier, Wash.
Kelsey Washenberger     Applied Human Biology      So    3.90   Bend, Ore.
 
MEN
Seattle Pacific
Name                                          Academic major                             Year       GPA        Hometown
* Elius Graff           Computer Engineering       Jr    3.62   Portland, Ore.
Ben Hansen              Art                        Jr    3.24   Los Angeles, Calif.
Brayden Schultz         Exercise Science           So    3.75   Kenmore, Wash.
 
* 2018-19 All-Academic
+ 2017-18 All-Academic