ST. LOUIS – Illinois State track & field's senior pole vaulter Ariana Cranston was selected to be featured in this week's Missouri Valley Conference Enterprise Bank & Trust Scholar-Athlete Spotlight, as announced by the league office.
Cranston, who graduated with a degree in Molecular Cellular Biology and a minor in Spanish last weekend, finished her academic career at Illinois State with a 3.84 GPA.
Following the Pre-Medicine track all throughout college, Cranston has been committed to her academic successful since she first stepped onto the ISU campus in 2016. She has been a member of the MVC Scholar-Athlete team three times (2018, 2019, 2020), a member of the 2019 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team, selected to the 2019 Google Cloud Academic All-District team and a four-time AFNI Honor Roll member.
Throughout her four years at Illinois State University, Cranston was not only a successful pole vaulter, winning the Valley title four times throughout her career, but was also very involved on the Illinois State campus as the Community Service Coordinator for the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, a member of the Spanish Club, a hospital volunteer at Advocate Bromenn and a member of the ISU Athletic Council.
Additionally, she has volunteered at various races supporting cancer research and has participated in Recess Buddies, Lunch Buddies and other events throughout the Bloomington-Normal community that assist local elementary schools.
To qualify for the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Spotlight, student-athletes must carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20, completed at least one academic year at a Valley institution and must be at least a sophomore in academic standing.
Redshirt freshmen and first-year junior college transfers are not eligible. In addition to the academic qualifications, student-athletes are evaluated on their campus involvement and community service.
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