Portions of story courtesy of glvcsports.com
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has identified a record 684 student-athletes who have earned the GLVC Brother James Gaffney Distinguished Scholar Award, it was announced on Wednesday.
Named after Brother James Gaffney FSC, former President of Lewis University for over 28 years and two-term Chair of the GLVC Council of Presidents, the award is presented annually to student-athletes competing in GLVC-sponsored sports who achieve a 4.0 grade point average during the course of the academic year. The total number of honorees includes the 15 full-time GLVC members, as well as the four eligible associate league members.
The GLVC has seen a significant rise in perfect 4.0 GPAs since the inception of the award in 2016-17, although it began tracking the unblemished marks in 2013-14 as part of the Academic All-GLVC process. After seeing 114 students earn 4.0 GPAs in 2013-14 and 118 in 2014-15, the total spiked 52 percent to 179 in 2015-16, and then 54 percent to 275 in 2016-17 for the inaugural honor. The total jumped to a record 298 students across 15 full-time member institutions in 2017-18, and the league maintained its impressive position with 292 from 14 full-time schools in 2018-19, before nearly doubling the previous record with an 89 percent increase across 16 schools in 2019-20 at 555. The 2020-21 total of 530 was not far off the record set the previous year, despite there being only 15 full-time league members. The 2021-22 total of 582 set a new league record with a 9.8 percent increase from the previous year. In 2022-23, the total was 536 for 13 league members and in 2023-24 there was an 9.14 percent increase with 14 full-time and three eligible associate member schools. This year there has been an increase of 17.1 percent with the honorees jumping up by 100 to total 584 with 15 full-time and four eligible associate member schools.
McKendree placed 41 players on the list among 18 of their GLVC-membered programs. That is roughly 6% of the conference's total honorees. Two individuals honored were dual-sport athletes.
The complete list of 2024-25 McKendree GLVC Brother James Gaffney Distinguished Scholar Award recipients is as follows:
MEN'S BASKETBALL
WOMEN'S BOWLING
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
FOOTBALL
MEN'S GOLF
WOMEN'S GOLF
WOMEN'S LACROSSE
MEN'S SOCCER
WOMEN'S SOCCER
SOFTBALL
MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING
WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING
MEN'S TENNIS
WOMEN'S TENNIS
MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
MEN'S WRESTLING
*specifies dual-sport athlete in multiple programs
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