FRESNO, Calif.- Julissa Avila has added yet another honor to her stellar 2024 Women's Cross Country season. This past week, Avila earned her way on the 2024 United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-American Academic honors list. 

This season, Avila made history as the first ever Fresno Pacific Women's Cross Country runner to qualify and compete for the DII National Championships. In the Women's 6K, Avila finished 115th in a field of 262 runners with a time of 22:17. Avila qualified for the National Championships after finishing 14th, running a lifetime best of 21 minutes and 28 seconds, the highest place finish of any female student athlete in school history at the West Regionals. 

In the classroom, Avila is a Fresno Pacific University Gregory Scholar, a nursing major, and has a 3.96 cumulative GPA. 

In order to qualify for All-Academic distinction, student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 on a 4.0 scale and finish in the top-25 (or 10 percent) at the NCAA Regional Championships or as an All-American at the NCAA Championships.

"Julissa is the very definition of what you'd imagine an Academic All-American being," said head coach Ray Winter. "She has a tireless work ethic, an incredibly high bar set for her standards of excellence, and works so hard to balance her time and energy to allow her to excel at everything.The best part is that she does it with a smile and encourages the same kind of patterns and outcomes in her teammates."

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