Three men repeated as Division II track and field scholar athletes of the year and were joined by an eight-time women’s national champion in honors announced this week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Adams State men’s indoor champions Aaron Braun and Matt Gersick joined Abilene Christian decathlete Camille Vandendriessche as repeat honorees. The coaches also recognized a third Adams State student-athlete, Joshua Streeter, among the men’s scholar athletes.

On the women’s side, junior Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific bolstered her shelf full of honors by adding the scholar-athlete recognition to her multiple championship trophies (including four titles she won during the 2008-09 academic year). Joining her as women’s honorees were Northwest Nazarene’s Ashley Puga, UC San Diego’s Linda Rainwater and Central Missouri’s Jenna Schmidt.

The USTFCCCA honors men and women’s scholar athletes in indoor track, indoor field, outdoor track and outdoor field.

Braun, a mathematics major at Adams State, was the men’s indoor track selection after winning the mile run and finishing second in the indoor 5,000-meter run, while teammate Gersick, a human performance major, was the indoor field selection after winning the shot put and placing third in the weight throw.

The third Adams State selection, theater arts major Streeter, was the outdoor track honoree after winning the 400-meter hurdles. Vandendriessche, a journalism major, was honored in outdoor field after becoming the first three-time decathlon champion in Division II.

Pixler, an English major at Seattle Pacific, was the women’s indoor track honoree after winning the mile and 5,000-meter run at the indoor championships. She also won the Division II cross country title last fall and a 1,500-meter run title outdoors this year. Schmidt, a sociology major at Central Missouri, was honored in indoor field after winning the high jump.

The outdoor track honoree was Northwest Nazarene’s Puga, a business administration and finance major who won the outdoor 800-meter run and finished eighth in the 1,500-meter run. Rainwater, a visual arts major at UC San Diego, was the outdoor field honoree after winning the high jump and finishing third in the heptathlon.

The coaches also listed this year’s Division II All Academic Track and Field Team for men and women, naming 250 women student-athletes from 73 institutions and 136 men student-athletes from 56 institutions.

For the second straight year, Grand Valley State led the way with the most student-athletes on the lists, placing 20 women and seven men. Missouri Southern State placed 10 and Minnesota State Mankato seven on the women’s team while Adams State and Findlay placed six student-athletes each on the men’s team.

A student-athlete must compile a cumulative grade-point average of 3.25 and meet the Division II indoor or outdoor championships’ automatic or provisional qualifying standard in an event to qualify for the team.