SEATTLE – Already one of the best distance runners in the West Region,
Annika Esvelt has proven herself to be one of the best students, as well.
The Seattle Pacific sophomore has been voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team for cross country and track.
The Academic All-District team is comprised of student-athletes from the three NCAA West Region conferences: the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (which includes SPU), the California Collegiate Athletic Association, and the Pacific West Conference.
Annika Esvelt
An applied human biology major and carrying a perfect 4.00 grade-point average, this is Esvelt's third honor for her work in the classroom during the current school year. She was named to the GNAC All-Academic cross country team last fall, and to the All-Academic track and field team this spring.
Esvelt is coming off a double All-American performance at this past weekend's NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships in Allendale, Michigan. Last Thursday, she took fourth place in the 10,000 meters in a time of 33 minutes, 51.65 seconds. That made her just the second Falcon women ever to break the 34-minute mark, and just the fourth GNAC woman to do that.
On Saturday, Esvelt ran to 10th place in the 5000 meters. She earned first team All-American status for the 10K and second team for the 5K.
Esvelt also won the 10,000 at the GNAC Championships and was second in the 5000. During the winter indoor season, she won both the 3000 and the 5000 at GNAC, and went on to an All-American eighth-place finish in the 5K at the NCAA meet.
Last fall, Esvelt won a pair of regular-season cross country meets, then took ninth at GNAC and 22nd at West Regionals.
Along with her five All-GNAC awards during 2021-22 (cross country, both indoor races, and both outdoor races), Esvelt earned All-Region in cross and for both of her indoor events. The All-Region awards for the outdoor season have not yet been announced, but Esvelt is in position to make the list in both the 5 and the 10, as she has the second-fastest West time in both.
Esvelt collected four GNAC Athlete of the Week honors: two for cross country, and two for indoor track.
The CoSIDA Academic All-District team is voted on by sports information directors with each region. Athletes must have a GPA of 3.30 or higher, be a sophomore or older, and must be in at least their second year of competition at their school in order to be nominated.
Esvelt is one of six GNAC athletes to make the 10-woman All-District team. The GNAC also had four of the 10 men who made All-District. Each of the All-District honorees now will be placed on the Academic All-America ballot, with that team to be announced in June.
