PORTLAND, Ore. – Forty-three Northwest Nazarene student-athletes have earned the 2024-25 GNAC Faculty Athletic Representative Scholar-Athlete Award, presented by Barnes and Noble College.
To receive the honor, student-athletes had to have recorded a cumulative GPA of 3.85 or greater through the Spring 2025 semester. Unlike the GNAC All-Academic teams, first-year student-athletes are eligible for the FAR award after having completed a full year at their institutions.
The Nighthawks placed 28 women and 15 men on the teams.
Womens' soccer teammates Kate Bleffert and Allison Wolf and men's track & field sprinter Dylan Breuer each earned the honor for an impressive fifth time in their careers, keeping their GPAs above the 3.85 level throughout all five years in Nampa. Two more track & field standouts, Alejandra Gomez and Laurenz Waldbauer, received the honor for the fourth year in a row.
Aaron Heberlein, Isabella Kimball, and Emily Powers are also now three-time recipients. Alex Barrass, Kaitlyn Bjorklund, Abbey Blancett, Kendall Clark, Rebecca Darwood, Jenna Davis, Jordan Gram, Lily Kinloch, Kellen Newsome, Challiss Potter, Carter Stedman have been named to the list for the second time in their careers.
Eight Nighthawks have remained perfect in their collegiate careers with 4.00 GPAs to this point, with their academic years, sports, & majors indicated here in parentheses: Opal Barker (freshman, women's soccer, Nursing), Kendall Clark (sophomore, women's basketball, English), Sadi Clemons (junior, women's basketball, Psychology), Lailauni Cortes (freshman, volleyball, Pre-Counseling), Sam Simonson (freshman, volleyball, Biology), Maddie Weatherford (freshman, track & field, Nursing), Laurenz Waldbauer (senior, track & field, Global Business), and Holt Williams (sophomore, baseball, Engineering).
NNU's women's soccer squad earned the most recognitions of any Nighthawks team with eight. Women's track & field was next with seven, followed by men's track & field with six and baseball and volleyball tied with five. Women's basketball had four, softball, men's soccer, and women's golf have two, and men's basketball and men's golf registered one apiece as every team had at least one recipient.
A faculty athletic representative (FAR) is a member of the faculty at an NCAA member institution who has been designated to serve as a liaison between the institution's faculty and the athletic department. The FAR serves as a representative of the institution in conference and NCAA affairs.
