INDIANAPOLIS --- The Great Lakes Valley Conference gave out their annual Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Sportsmanship Awards for winter and spring sports and Bellarmine University was well represented as the men's basketball team and both the men's and women's track and field team were honored.
The SAAC Sportsmanship Award is determined by votes of the GLVC member institutions' campus SAACs. The committees select their top three choices in each sport and base their decision on their view of sportsmanship. Each team that received a first-place vote received three points, second-place received two points and the third-place received one point. The GLVC sponsors the award in each of the league's 17 championship sports.
Led by program director
Jim Vargo, the track and field teams won the award for both the indoor and outdoor season. This is the third straight year that the women's team has picked up the Sportsmanship Award for track & field. They won third place in the indoor season and were runner up in the outdoor championship.
This is the first year that the men have earned the honor and are sharing it with Lewis University. The men also placed third in the indoor GLVC Championship before getting second place during the outdoor season.
Coming off their National Championship run, the men's basketball team did so while displaying class and good sportsmanship throughout. Coached by
Scott Davenport, it is the programs's first SAAC Sportsmanship award.
The men's and women's cross country teams, also coached by Vargo, picked up their sport's Sportsmanship awards during the fall season.
Other winners are Lewis (men's track & field and baseball), Illinois-Springfield (women's basketball), Maryville (women's tennis and softball), Missouri-St. Louis (men's and women's golf), and Rockhurst (men's tennis).
The overall 'Good Sportsmanship' award will be presented to the institution with the most points during 2010-11 academic year and announced on May 19. Northern Kentucky claimed the inaugural award in 2007-08, Wisconsin-Parkside earned the overall award in 2008-09, and Bellarmine earned the overall award in 2009-10.
