INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has identified 536 student-athletes who have earned the GLVC Brother James Gaffney Distinguished Scholar Award, it was announced on Wednesday. Sixteen of the recipients are William Jewell student-athletes, third most for the Cardinals since the award began in 2016-17. 

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-sponsoredsports who achieve a 4.0 grade point average during the course of the academic year. The total number of honorees include the 15 full-time GLVC members as well as eligible associate league members.

All but one of the Jewell programs represented on the list either tied or bettered their previous program highs led by volleyball's four selections, up from three a year ago. Women's Soccer posted three honorees for the third straight year while football and women's golf also had two. Men's and women's basketball, men's swimming, women's tennis and softball each had one student-athlete receive the honor. Two Cardinals, volleyball's Maddie Wingert and women's soccer's Kaylie Kappelmann are earning their third such award while Tori Vogt (volleyball) is on the list for the second time in her career. 

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 last year at 555. This year's total was not far off the record set a year ago, despite there being only 15 full-time league members compared to 16 in 2019-20. 

Below is a complete list of Jewell's GLVC Bro. James Gaffney Distinguished Scholar Athletes: 
Zac Bayless, Football, William Jewell
Karis Saplys, Football, William Jewell
Frida Hammarlund, Women's Golf, William Jewell
Emma Litterscheid, Women's Golf, William Jewell
Caleb Houghton, Men's Basketball, William Jewell
Sydney Offield, Women's Basketball, William Jewell
Kayla Crowder (Burdette), Women's Soccer, William Jewell 
Jayme Coon, Women's Soccer, William Jewell
Kaylie Kappelmann, Women's Soccer, William Jewell***
Tori Farr, Softball, William Jewell
Jacob Berkheimer, Men's Swimming, William Jewell
Michaela Esau, Women's Tennis, William Jewell
Lily Johnson, Volleyball, William Jewell
Jorey Luebbert, Volleyball, William Jewell
Tori Vogt, Volleyball, William Jewell**
Maddie Wingert, Volleyball, William Jewell***