Two athletes from Linfield set the pace in the classroom, earning first team all-Northwest Conference academic selections. Men's track and field athlete and football player Jacob Slifka and women's tennis player Lexie Matsunaga were the two selected for the honor.
 
Slifka is the back-to-back NWC champion in the men's discus, winning the league title in 2022 and 2023. He is also a part of the Wildcats football team as a receiver. Slifka has been strong in the classroom, boasting a 3.795 cumulative GPA as an applied physics major. He was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team in 2023, USTFCCCA All-Region Team in 2023, CSC Academic All-District Track Team in 2023 and CSC Academic All-District Football Team in 2022.
 
Matsunaga finished her final season at Linfield with an 8-3 singles record and a 10-4 doubles record, putting the bow on a final 36-13 career singles record and 36-
13 career doubles record. She also finished as a three-time all-Northwest Conference honoree. A biochemistry and molecular biology major, Matsunaga was recognized as a 2023 College Sports Communicators second team Academic All-American. She was a two-time recipient of the Order of Omega Academic Excellence Award along with being speaker at Linfield's commencement ceremony. She plans to attend graduate school while pursuing a career in oncology.