LILBURN, Ga. – When they weren't busy practicing or playing their way into the postseason, the Seattle Pacific Falcons were busy in the classroom.
 
SPU has earned Special Mention status as part of the 2024 Women's Basketball Coaches Association Academic Team Honor Roll.

The Falcons had a combined team cumulative grade-point average of 3.59. They are the second-highest team out of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the third-highest out of the West Region, which includes the GNAC, California Collegiate Athletic Association, and Pacific West Conference.
 
"We're big into achieving and doing well in everything that we do, so that's a huge element of why we're great in the classroom," Falcons head coach Mike Simonson said. "Part of it is we just recruit kids who want to be achievers, not only on the court, but in the classroom and careerwise. When you think about our team being high academically, which has been year in and year out. It's because of the caliber of student-athletes we recruit.
 
The only two West teams ahead of Seattle Pacific were GNAC member Montana State Billings (3.824) and Pac West member Point Loma Nazarene.(3.635).
 
To qualify for consideration, teams must have a minimum GPA of 3.00. SPU ranked 37th among the 81 who either made the top 25 or the Special Mention list.
 
SPU also had several individual players earn academic honors throughout the year.
 
Hunter Beirne (master of arts in teaching), Schuyler Berry (global development studies), Emilia Bishop (communications), Jalena Carlisle (business), Hailey Marlow (business administration), and Lolo Weatherspoon (communications) all made the GNAC All-Academic team.
 
 

"Ultimately in their careers, we're going to have some powerhouses taking down the business world, and in the medicine field, and teachers giving back because those are the types of kids we have in our program," Simonson said. "And we celebrate that every single day."
 
Beirne and Olivia Mayer earned a place on the College Sports Communicators / CoSIDA Academic All-District team.
 
Beirne, Berry, Julia Lavigne, and Haylie-Anne Ohta received GNAC Faculty Athletic Representative awards.
 
All except Carlisle, Marlow, and Mayer are returning for the 2024-25 season.


SPU SOCIAL 

• Twitter - @SPUSports & @SPUWBB
• Instagram - @SPUSports & @SPUWBB
• Facebook - /SPUSports

Seattle's only NCAA Division II Scholarship Program | #GoFalcons