Missouri State University

April 17, 2012

SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State University hosted its second annual Maroon and White Honors Banquet and Scholar-Athlete Awards ceremony on Sunday, April 15 at JQH Arena.

In all, 153 student-athletes were recognized for achieving a minimum 3.25 cumulative grade-point average for all semesters at Missouri State. The honorees represent nearly 40 percent of MSU's student-athletes currently participating in its 16 intercollegiate programs.

The event was sponsored by the Bank of Missouri.

Bryan Hicks, Associate Athletics Director, began the ceremony by welcoming the student-athletes and acknowledging professors, faculty and academic mentors in attendance for their hard work and dedication to Missouri State's student-athletes.

Additional remarks and congratulations were offered by Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Kyle Moats and MSU Interim President Clif Smart.

Missouri State's recipients of the Missouri Valley Conference Elite 18 Award -- Heath Melugin of men's soccer and Emily Beaver of cross country were recognized -- along with Academic All-Americans Melugin and women's basketball standout Lacey Boshe. The student-athletes in attendance then introduced themselves, along with their sport, academic major and the faculty mentor they personally invited to the event.

The final honor of the night, The Highest Team GPA, was awarded to the Missouri State women's cross country squad which compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.78 over the last year.

The complete list of honorees by sport is as follows: