Jessica Pixler has one year of outdoor track eligibility at Colorado.

SEATTLE – Jessica Pixler is going home – sort of – for the next phase of her running career.

After winning 12 NCAA Division II championships during her four years at Seattle Pacific and graduating on June 13, Pixler will take her NCAA post-graduate scholarship to the University of Colorado and run one season of outdoor track for the Buffs.

Pixler has that single year of outdoor eligibility remaining because she missed her sophomore outdoor season at SPU with stress fractures in her back.

Jessica Pixler

“At the time (of her injury in 2008), it was hard to see the reason for why it happened,” Pixler said. “But now, everything has worked out in a way that I didn’t expect.”

Pixler, who earned her degree in English at SPU with a 3.93 grade-point average, will pursue her masters in curriculum and instruction for grades K-12, with an emphasis on humanities. Eventually, she would like to teach at the high school level.

When she’s not in class, she’ll be on the track with an opportunity to go up regularly against Division I competition.

“She’ll have good teammates to train with on a regular basis, and the races she runs here will be pretty good races,” Colorado head coach Mark Wetmore said. “Day to day, her competitive level will grow.”

Added Pixler, “I really got a sense that the coaches want to invest a lot of time to help me achieve my goal. That really means a lot to me, because that’s (also) what I experienced at SPU.”

Although Pixler currently is a resident of Sammamish, east of Seattle, she was born in Englewood, Colo., about 30 miles southeast of the Colorado campus in Boulder. She moved here with her family at age 7. Her parents both ran track for the Buffs (dad Jeff was an 800-meter man; mom Nancy specialized in the 1,500).

“I was kind of looking at a couple other schools, But I think the big thing for me was I really have a family tradition there,” Pixler said of choosing Colorado. “Most of my aunts and uncles went there. I took my visit there and it went really well. I really liked the coaches and the team.”

The feeling was mutual, according Wetmore.

“The thing we can do for her is to help her take another step in improving,” he said. “An athlete her age will naturally get better and better with another year of age and growth and maturity."

Pixler’s last race for the Falcons was the 1,500 at the Division II championships in Charlotte, N.C., on May 29. She won handily, her second straight title in that event and third in four years. She was going to try for the 800 as well, and was the top seed in that race. However, intense ankle pain forced her to stop after just 50 meters.

This summer, Pixler has an opportunity to work at some running camps, and then will prepare to head to Boulder for the start of fall classes.

“It was nice to have it taken care of before graduation and be able to tell people what I’m doing,” Pixler said. “It’s one less thing to worry about, and it’s something new and exciting to look forward to.”