Portions of story courtesy of glvcsports.com
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) announced its GLVC James R. Spalding Overall Sportsmanship Awards for the 2025-26 season, 30 student-athletes, one male and one female per school, were named James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, while 27 teams – one per sport – were previously recognized after learning of their honor during their respective All-Conference process.
Each institution – through the head coach – names one award honoree in each sport sponsored. These individual sport honorees became candidates for the individual James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award. Each institution then selects one male and one female student-athlete from its season-long list of honorees to be named as James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Individual Award winners.
Furthermore, during the initial nomination process, each institution's coach ranks the top-three teams within the sport that best displayed good sportsmanship throughout the season. The team with the highest point total is then named that sport's James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Team Award winner. At the conclusion of the academic year, the institution that accumulated the highest point total across all sports is named the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Overall Award winner. This year's overall winner was Southwest Baptist University.
McKendree's men's basketball team was bestowed as the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Team Award Winner for the conference sport by showing ethical and exemplary behavior throughout the 2025-26 season. It is the department's 11th total team honored, and the third in the men's basketball program's history, since the GLVC started recognizing individual sports at the end of the 2013-14 year.
Seniors Caleb Burton (O'Fallon, Ill.) of men's basketball and Lena Greefs (Zepperen, Belgium) of women's tennis were the Bearcats' male and female Individual Award Winners for the year for their positive representation of the school and the conference. For men's basketball, it is their second consecutive individual winner, while for women's tennis, it is their third department selection. Individuals started being honored by the GLVC since the end of the 2015-16 year.
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