INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has identified a record 581 student-athletes who have earned the GLVC Brother James Gaffney Distinguished Scholar Award, it was announced on Wednesday.

Nineteen William Jewell student-athletes are among those honored, up from 16 a year ago. The Women's Soccer and Volleyball programs led the way with four honorees each while men's soccer and women's basketball had two apiece. Four student-athletes earn their second Gaffney Award while senior Kaylie Kappelmann earns her fourth. Additionally, women's basketball's Katelynn Ostronic and volleyball's Samantha Thompson posted a 4.0 in their first year. 

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

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 in 2019-20 at 555. The 2020-21 total of 530 was not far off the record set the previous year, despite there being only 15 full-time league members. The 2021-22 total set a new league record with a 9.62 percent increase from a year ago.

Katelynn Ostronic, Women's Basketball (Fr.)
Rachel Schon, Women's Basketball (Jr.)
Karis Saplys, Football** (So.)
Frida Hammarlund, Women's Golf** (Jr.)
Blake Reynolds, Men's Track & Field (Jr.)
Katie Simms, Women's Track & Field (Jr.)
Roberto Ramirez, Men's Soccer (Sr.)
Bennett Williams, Men's Soccer (Sr.)
Jayme Coon, Women's Soccer** (Jr.)
Kaylie Kappelmann, Women's Soccer**** (Sr.)
Kate Lawrence, Women's Soccer (So.)
Juliann Smith, Women's Soccer (So.)
Jacob Berkheimer, Men's Swimming** (So.)
Claire Hays, Women's Swimming (Jr.)
Gillian Evans, Women's Tennis (Sr.)
Grace Baucom, Volleyball (Sr.)
Kaci Behrens, Volleyball (So.)
Jorey Luebbert, Volleyball** (So.)
Samantha Thompson, Volleyball (Fr.) 

** Two-time honoree
**** Four-time honoree