NCU junior cross country and track runners Michelle Fletcher and Sierra Brown recently earned major year-end awards from the Cascade Collegiate Conference. Both ladies were part of an historic year for the Beacon running program which included an NAIA National Championship in Cross Country and an 11th-Place finish in Track & Field.
On June 8, Fletcher (pictured, right) was named the CCC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She wrapped up her third year with the Beacons holding a cumulative GPA of 4.0 in Biology. She earned Academic All-Conference and Daktronics-NAIA National Scholar Athlete honors in both cross country and track and she has twice been named a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection.
Fletcher earned All-CCC honors and NAIA All-American honors as she helped lead the Beacons to the 2015 NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Championship. She finished 3rd at the CCC Championship and 10th at the NAIA National Championship.
In Track & Field, she won the CCC 3000m Steeplechase Championship and finished fourth in the 5000m run at the CCC championships. Fletcher went on to earn All-American honors with a fourth-place finish at the NAIA National Championship. Her points were a key factor in the Beacons 11th-place finish which was the highest in school history and highest in the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
Fletcher is the third NCU athlete to be selected by the CCC as the Scholar-Athlete of the Year, joining Erik Quick-Warner in 2010 and Stephanie Hescock in 2013.
On June 9, Brown (pictured, left) was named the CCC Female Athlete of the Year. The junior from Medford, Ore., was a three-time All-American during the year. In the fall, she won the CCC Individual Championship and was named CCC Runner of the Year as she led the Beacons to the Women’s Cross Country Championship. At Nationals, she finished fourth individually to help give NCU their first-ever NAIA National Championship.
Brown had a record-setting track season as well, earning All-CCC honors in both the 1500m and the 5000m and following that up with NAIA All-American honors at both disciplines as well.
She was 7th in the 1500m and 5th in the 5000m, scoring 6 points for the Beacons who finished in 11th-place for their highest finish in school history, and the highest finish in the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
Brown is the first Beacon student-athlete to ever be selected as the conference Athlete of the Year.