BAY CITY, Mich. - Kristen Hixson, recent graduate of the Grand Valley State track and field squad, has been named the 2013-14 GLIAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as voted on by the league's faculty athletics representatives.

Hixson, a finance major with a 3.97 grade point average, repeated as the Capital One Academic All-America of the Year for the Division II Women's Track and Field/Cross Country program after earning the honor a year ago. Hixson is one of two three-time Capital One Academic All-America Women's Track and Field/Cross Country first-team selections on this year's squad.

A seven-time NCAA Division II All-American, Hixson capped off her stellar career at GVSU by claiming her third individual national title in the pole vault. The Remus, Michigan, native set a new Division II standard at the outdoor national championship, clearing 4.50 meters (14'9") to win the title and claim the eighth-best pole vault mark in the world this year at the time of the meet. Hixson also won the national pole vaulting titles in 2012, sweeping both the indoor and outdoor individual championships.

Hixson's efforts in the pole vault helped the Lakers finish third as a team at the 2014 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championship. Hixson was one of our student-athletes from GVSU to be named to the Meijer Commissioner's Award list for the winter season. She is a four-time GLIAC pole vault champion and has posted four other top-five finishes at the NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championship in the discipline.

Michigan Tech men's basketball player Austin Armga won the men's award from the GLIAC.

"The GLIAC is very proud of the academic and athletic accomplishments of Austin Armga and Kristen HIxson," stated GLIAC Commissioner Dell Robinson. "The performance in the classroom of these two outstanding student-athletes has led them to being named to one of our top academic honors. Austin and Kristen are both an example of the extraordinary scholar-athletes we have in this conference."

Both Armga and Hixson are now in the running for the Division II Conference Commissioner Association (CCA) Regional "Scholar-Athlete of the Year" awards.