Two members of the PNW cross-country team, Abigail Bondi, senior human resource management major, and Shyla Huppenthal, junior finance major, were announced as Daktronics-NAIA-Scholar Athlete recipients on Nov. 18.

Daktronics NAIA-Scholar Athlete honors are awarded to student-athletes who are qualified as junior level students and hold a 3.5 GPA out of 4.0. 335 women’s cross-country student-athletes were named by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Huppenthal said that she views academic standing as an extremely important component of being a student athlete.

“It makes me feel like I’m contributing to all aspects of being a student athlete,” Huppenthal said.

In addition to being a member of the PNW Cross-country team, Huppenthal is a member of the PNW honors college and is involved in the National Residence Hall Honorary club. Huppenthal said that success in academics, athletics and extracurricular activities is possible due to efficient organization.

“Balancing athletics and academics are very difficult with schedule conflicts,” Huppenthal said. “I try to keep everything I have to do on a planner and to do list.”

Huppenthal said that being an athlete has also increased her productivity.

“Being an athlete helps my academics so much,” Huppenthal said. “Mostly by giving me a good structure to my days.”

Bondi previously received Daktronics-NAIA-Scholar Athlete honors in 2015.

“It was my goal to repeat it this year,” Bondi said. “I was really happy and proud to be able to achieve it again.”

Bondi said her teammates motivate her to achieve more both in academics and athletics.

“Being on a team helps my academics because I am able to surround myself with likeminded individuals who all want academic excellence, as well as succeeding athletically,” Bondi said.

Bondi said that the key to balancing athletics and academics is time management.

“It is important to know that school comes first and it is okay to miss practice every once in a while,” Bondi said.