PORTLAND, Ore. – Consistency counts. When it comes to academic success, a group of five Seattle Pacific Falcons is a model of consistency.
 
Men's soccer player Tyler Speer, women's basketball players Hunter Beirne and Natalie Hoff, cross country / track runner Libby Michael, and volleyball player Lindsay Rosenthal all have earned a Faculty Athletic Representative Scholar-Athlete Award for the fourth consecutive year, as announced on Thursday by the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
They were part of an overall collection of 31 Falcons to make the list – and this one is a very elite list. Getting onto it takes a cumulative grade-point average of 3.85 or higher.
 
 

"While thrilled with their accomplishments in competition, we are even more proud of the academic achievements of our SPU student-athletes, interim athletic director Dan Lepse said. "The fact that so many Falcons sustained grade point averages above the lofty 3.85 level is remarkable. Receiving this FAR recognition is a tribute to their diligent work and time management along with the strong support from their coaches and staff." Along with four-time winners, another four Falcons earned their third FAR awards, nine collected their second, and 13 now have their first. 

 

Speer is a biochemistry major with a perfect 4.00 grade-point average. Beirne, working on her master's in teaching, has a 3.91. Hoff is a visual communication major with a 3.91; Michael a biology major with 3.93, and Rosenthal a business administration major with a 3.86.
 
All five made their respective GNAC All-Academic teams. Speer and Hoff earned a place on the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District teams for their sports.
 
Michael and Rosenthal were seniors, and Hoff was a fifth-year player. Speer and Beirne both have eligibility remaining and plan to return for the upcoming school year.
 
SPU's third-time winners were cross country / track runners Annika Esvelt and Charisma Smith, women's soccer player Lauren Forster, and volleyball player Hannah Hair.
 
The second-timers were men's soccer player Johnny Lo, women's basketball players Schuyler Berry and Hailey Marlow, volleyball players Abigail Cunningham, Maddie Pruden, Emily Tulino, and Allison Wilks, track runner Johanna Brown, and rower Audrey Rekedal.
 
Track and fielders Brady Boun and Ethan Erickson, basketball player Logan Kinloch, and soccer players Isaac Ketcham and Connor Tollan were the SPU men making the cut for the first time.
 
A soccer trio of Mercedes Cullen, Dalton Mermis, and Maya Parman, along with cross country / track runner Katelyn Flolo, track runner Marissa Crane, rower Addie Clark, volleyball player Brianna Ingram, and basketball player Makenna Jacklin were the women's first-time winners.
 
Along with Speer, three others among Seattle Pacific's 31 recipients sport 4.0 GPAs, Brown, a sophomore nursing major; Parman, a freshman nursing major, and Rekedal, a sophomore political science major.
 
 

Each NCAA institution has a faculty athletic representative. That person is a member of the faculty who has been designated to serve as a liaison between the school's faculty and the athletic department. The role of the FAR is "to ensure that the academic institution establishes and maintains the appropriate balance between academics and athletics."
 
At Seattle Pacific, that FAR is biology professor Dr. Eric Long. In addition to his on-campus role, Long represents the school in conference and NCAA matters.

Spurred by the individual academic accomplishments, all 10 SPU teams exceeded 3.00 grade-point averages for the 2022-23 school year.