St. Louis – The Missouri Valley Conference has announced the 2024 Cross Country Scholar-Athletes, in conclusion of the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championship on November 1st, at Pheasant Ridge Golf Course in Cedar Falls, Iowa hosted by Northern Iowa. Leading the team Scholar Athletes of the Year champion for the women is Emma Gresham of Indiana State and Mathis Chavand of Illinois State.

Scholar-Athlete honors require athletes to meet performance standards, as they must finish in the first 20 runners at the conference championship and hold at least a cumulative 3.5 GPA and be in sophomore standings academically and athletically. The conference has chosen to raise the standard cumulative GPA in alignment with College Sports Communicators (formally known as CoSIDA) nomination standards, who has also raised the minimum cumulative GPA from 3.3 previously to 3.5. For top honors, the Scholar-Athlete of the Year is the top finisher that meets the qualifications for the team.

This year's women's Scholar Athlete of the Year, Emma Gresham who won the championship with a 6K time of 20:09.7 and currently holds a GPA of 4.00 in  Environmental Geoscience.



The men's Scholar Athlete of the Year is Mathis Chavand of Illinois State who won the men's 8K with a time of 23:02.9 and currently holds a 3.89 GPA in Political Science.


 
Eighteen women and men met the criteria including both Elite 18 winners. Bradley and Belmont had the most on the team with five recipients each followed by Northern Iowa's three followed by Drake, Illinois State, and Indiana State's two recipients each.