PORTLAND, Ore. – A champion in competition and a top student in the classroom, Alaska Anchorage's John Peckham was voted as the 2025-26 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.
 
The GNAC Scholar Athlete of the Year award is presented annually to one male and one female deemed to have achieved the highest performance both academically and athletically. The award is voted on by the conference's athletic directors.
 
Peckham's 2025-26 year of competition had notable moments in just about every week he competed. He started the campaign as an All-American in cross country and finished it as an All-American in outdoor track and field, all while maintaining a 4.00 grade point average throughout his graduate studies in management at UAA. A native of Sisters, Ore., Peckham earned his third-career academic all-conference designation in track & field and the second of his career in cross country during the academic year.
 
"What a fitting reward for John," said UAA head cross country and track & field coach Ryan McWilliams. "He is the consummate student-athlete who is dedicated to his academics and his sports craft. He has been an illuminating example to those around him on how to handle and conduct oneself in the classroom and in the sports arena. He has been such an integral part of our program and has set a standard we will strive to push our athletes to."
 
Peckham hinted he was on the cusp of an athletic breakthrough during the 2024-25 season, where he earned all-region in cross country and finished as the runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2025 GNAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. That breakthrough came to fruition immediately upon the commencement of the 2025 fall cross country season, where he finished in the top-25 in all six of his races including a pair of victories.
 
One of those wins came at the 2025 GNAC Cross Country Championships, as he joined a long history of UAA conference champions. His men's cross country gold medal was the 14th in program history as he helped ensure the Seawolves maintained the most men's individual champions since the league was formed in 2001. Overall he became the 10th different man in UAA history to win the conference championship race. On a chilly but sunny November morning in Billings, Mont., Peckham logged a personal-best 8k time of 24:04.6 minutes to win the championship race.
 
His cross country season was far from over after that, as he went on to continued success at both the regional and national levels. On Nov. 8 in Monmouth, Ore., Peckham cruised to a personal-best 10k time of 29:36.6 minutes to place fourth at the NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships. Two weeks later in Kenosha, Wis., he ran 30:27.0 minutes and took 25th at the NCAA Championships to solidify his first All-American performance.
 
It was more of the same as the calendar turned to 2026, as Peckham ran three more personal-best times during the track & field season. The first came at the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Dec. 6, where he clocked in with a PR 5,000-meters time of 14:08.05 minutes. Then during the outdoor season, Peckham finished no worse than 11th place in any of the seven races he competed in throughout the spring.
 
At the Johnny Mathis meet on March 20, he checked off a PR in the 1,500-meters with a time of 3:54.77 minutes to place fourth among a field of 49 competitors. Peckham then shifted his focus to his signature event – the steeplechase – where he went undefeated in three consecutive meets. He won the event at the Mike Fanelli Classic on April 3 in 8:57.34 minutes to best a field of 52 runners, and then two weeks later at the LaVerne Invitational he won in 8:57.28 minutes among 39 competitors.
 
His confidence soaring heading into the GNAC Championships, Peckham delivered a memorable performance as he won his first conference track gold medal in 8:55.44 minutes. It marked the fifth steeplechase win for an Alaska Anchorage man and the first since Wesley Kirui won the event at the 2019 GNAC Championships. It was also the fifth-fastest time by a conference champion.
 
The temporary PR didn't last for long, as Peckham advanced to the national stage in Emporia, Kan., to close out his tenure at UAA. In the preliminary round of the steeplechase, he ran a personal-best time of 8:55.01 minutes which was good enough to earn himself a spot in the NCAA Championship finals. In his final race, Peckham took 11th place to cap his career with second-team All-America honors.
 
Peckham became the third man in Alaska Anchorage history to claim the conference's top academic award for a male athlete. He joined three-time recipient Coleman Nash (2022-24) and 2003 recipient Tobias Schwoerer, both of whom were cross country/track & field student-athletes as well.