PORTLAND, Ore. – Week in and week, out, whether it's a local invitational in the Northwest or a national-caliber event somewhere out of state, the Seattle Pacific Falcons find a way to get the job done, whether it's running or jumping.
 
They do the same thing in the classroom.
 
Vanessa Aniteye earned her fourth selection, and Libby Michael garnered her third, leading a group of nine Seattle Pacific student-athletes who were named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic team for women's track and field.
 
Lizzy Daugherty and Annika Esvelt made the academic team for the second time. Johanna Brown, McKenzie Fletcher, Charlie Hill, Charisma Smith, and Nicki Yorges all collected their first award.
 
Aniteye was one of five from around the GNAC who was named to the team for the fourth time, along with two who made it for the fifth time.
 
Normally, it is possible to earn as many as three All-Academic awards during the course of a career. (Freshmen are not eligible.) During the pandemic shutdown in the spring and fall of 2020 and winter of 2021, the GNAC elected to continue recognizing student-athletes for their classroom success, even though there was no conference competition.
 
Then, when the NCAA granted additional eligibility to make up for time lost to the shutdown, those who were able to take advantage of it and continue their careers remained eligible for further All-Academic recognition.
 
 

Aniteye was one of those athletes. An exercise science major with a 3.61 grade-point average, earned two awards while at Alaska Anchorage, one last spring for outdoor track after joining the Falcons, then collected this one for indoor track. And what an indoor season it was, as Aniteye won the NCAA 800-meter championship in a school-record time of 2 minutes, 6.84 seconds to conclude her career.
 
 

Michael is a senior with a 3.92 GPA as a visual communication major. She ran to a pair of All-GNAC indoor honors, placing second in the mile and third in the 3000 at the conference meet. She set personal-bests in both of those races during the regular season. Outdoors, Michael won the mile at the Doris Heritage Track Festival, and was ninth in the 1500 at GNAC.
 
 

Esvelt is one of the two Falcons with a perfect 4.00 GPA, as she is majoring in applied human biology. The junior missed the indoor season with an injury, but returned to action during the spring and posted an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 16:52.91 in the 5000 meters. Esvelt went on to finish third in the 5000 at the GNAC Championships.
 
 

Daugherty became a regular 12-foot pole vaulter for the Falcons, and a regular first-place finishers, as well. A junior and a psychology major with a 3.47 GPA,  won her first four meets (tying for first in one of the), then won the regular-season finale at the Linfield Open for the second year in a row. She went on to finish third at GNAC outdoors, and also placed third at GNAC indoors. Daugherty had four meets of clearing 12 feet or higher this spring, and tied her career-best of 12-4 at the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational on April 29.
 
 

Leading the list of first-time selections is sophomore sprinter Johanna Brown. A sophomore, she sports a 4.00 GPA as a nursing major. She broke the one-minute mark in the 400-meter dash for the first time with a 59.78 at the Husky Classic indoor meet on Feb. 11. Her first sub-minute outdoors came on April 8 at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational with a 58.80. She went even faster two weeks later at the Wildcat Open with a 58.41.
 
Joining Brown on the first-time senior McKenzie Fletcher, junior Charisma Smith, and sophomores Charlie Hill and Nicki Yorges.

 

Fletcher is an ecology major with a 3.30 GPA and did the 400 hurdles an 400 dash. Hill, a pole vaulter, has a 3.70 GPA as a visual communication major. Smith is a sprinter who carries a 3.89 GPA as an exercise science major. Yorges is a distance runner with 3.81 GPA as a psychology major.
 
Members of the All-Academic team must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 or higher, be a sophomore or older, and must be in at least their second year at their school.
 
The program is sponsored by Barnes & Noble College.