NATYCAA (National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators) has announced the 2025 Scholar Athlete Team, 18 individuals comprised of one male and one female from nine geographic districts representing the national organization. The nine individuals for each gender will be the finalists for the Male/Female Scholar Athlete of the Year, awarded annually at the NACDA & Affiliates National Convention. This year's convention will be June 8-11 in Orlando, Florida. Everett Community College alumnus Denna Gibb is the lone representative from the NWAC.
Denna, Denna graduated Spring 2024 with her Associate in Arts and Sciences degree while majoring in pre-dentistry. She's made the President's list (4.0 GPA) four times and had a cumulative GPA of 3.91. She was a leader and integral member of our women's volleyball team that qualified for back to back trips to the NWAC playoffs and finished both years in the top 12 for the first time in nine years. She finished her EvCC volleyball career ranked 9th all time at EvCC in digs per set and in track she threw the javelin 37.6 meters her freshman year which ranked 4th all time at EvCC and qualified her as All NWAC in 2023. This mark was set despite two complete muscle tears in her obliques. Doctors told her it would be a 6-8 month long recovery but she returned to EvCC just two months later to compete in her sophomore year of volleyball.
In her sophomore outdoor track season in 2024 she was the NWAC javelin champion with a throw of 137' 3" and was subsequently an NWAC All American. Not only was this the 10th best mark in the country among all community college athletes it also set a new school record. Denna was later named the EvCC Female Student Athlete of the Year, as well as the Snohomish County collegiate female student athlete of the year.
This is the second time since the award began in 1992 that an Everett Community College athlete has been named as a finalist for the national award. Women's Soccer player Olivia Lee was named a finalist back in 2020. If selected, Denna would be the first athlete in the NWAC (male or female) to be named NATYCAA Scholar Athlete of the Year.