Illinois State senior Cutie Taylor was named to the second-team of the Arthur Ashe Jr. Scholar Award for excellence in athletics, academics and community activism.
The senior from Mt. Zion, Ill., was the first Illinois State athlete male/female to be honored with the award. Competing nationwide against all female undergraduates who are active members of an intercollegiate athletic team, Taylor was one of 30 softball players to be selected to the team.
To meet the requirements of the Arthur Ashe Jr. Scholar Award, the candidate must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.2 and be active on their campus or in their communities. The award was started in 1993 in the memory of Arthur Ashe Jr.
Taylor is a member of the Redbird softball team and currently holds a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average in Finance. She is a four-time member of the AFNI athletic honor roll, an active member of the State Farm Just Read program and is involved in many other community organizations.
This season, the outfielder moved into the Redbird record books for batting average (.389), slugging percentage (.653), home runs in a single-season (10) and RBI (37).
Taylor and the No. 1 seed Redbirds will host the Missouri Valley Conference tournament May 9-12, at the Redbird Softball Complex.
