Thirty-seven MSSU athletes named to MIAA winter honor roll

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

A total of 37 Missouri Southern Student-Athletes have been named to the MIAA Winter Academic Honor Roll, the league announced today.

In addition to those individuals, three were named an MIAA Scholar Athlete and four earned the Academic Excellence Award. The Winter Awards cover the sports for MSSU of Men's and Women's Basketball, as well as Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field.

To be recognized on the Academic Honor Roll, one must have a grade point average (GPA) used by the institution for purposes of NCAA academic certification of 3.00 at the certifying member institution. The individual must also have at least two terms of attendance at the certifying member institution, excluding summer terms. To be named to the Scholar-Athlete list, a student-athlete must meet the above requirements, as well as maintain a 3.5 GPA and be named All-MIAA during their respective seasons. To earn the Academic Excellence Award, a student-athlete must maintain a perfect 4.0 GPA, as well as satisfy the two terms of attendance.

Earning the Academic Excellence award for the Lions are all track and field athletes including Ryan Drendel, Jordan Banker, Elena Bisotto and Rachel Ray. Ray also earned the Scholar-Athlete award along with teammate Morgan Smith and women's basketball player Chelsey Henry.

The Missouri Southern Athletic Department has recently submitted its academic success rate (ASR) numbers to the NCAA. Those results measure graduations rates of a six-year period of student-athletes and will be released this summer. The department saw a ten percent jump from the last cohort and currently graduate student-athletes at a rate near double the typical student at Missouri Southern.

Athletics owes a great deal of credit to the success of its student-athletes to the outstanding support the department receives from administration, faculty and departments like the Academic Success Center, specifically Amanda Schmelzer, who has been working alongside the student-athletes for some time now.

"They are both a student and an athlete, but have to figure out how to make both worlds balance," Schmelzer said. "We are here to make sure that they have the resources and support to succeed in the classroom so they can succeed on the field."

The complete list of the winter Academic Honor Roll can be found in the story links above.