ST. LOUIS – Illinois State track & field and cross country student-athlete, Jake Gillum, was one of four Missouri Valley Conference student-athletes to receive a $5,000 postgraduate scholarship from the conference, announced by Commissioner Doug Elgin on Tuesday morning. Honorees were selected by the MVC Faculty Athletics Representatives Committee, based on their exemplary athletic and academic performances.
Gillum, a native of Metamora, Ill., earned Illinois State's most prestigious undergraduate academic award, the Robert G. Bone Scholarship and was selected as the Doug Collins Scholar-Athlete of the Year to start off a successful 2020-21 season both academically and on the track. During his Illinois State track & field/cross country career, he has been named an MVC Scholar-Athlete four times and earned the Valley's Elite 17 Award at the 2021 MVC Indoor Championships.
He was crowned the MVC Champion in the mile and was the MVC runner-up in the 800-meter run at the 2021 MVC Indoor Championships and earned All-MVC Honorable Mention honors at the MVC Cross Country Championships.
Gillum maintained a 4.0 grade point average as an Exercise Science major with minors in Spanish and Psychology and will begin a Master's Program in Exercise Physiology at Illinois State this fall.
To be eligible for consideration, recipients must have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.40, participated with distinction in a Missouri Valley Conference championship sport for at least two seasons at the nominating institution and must graduate from their institutions within 18 months following selection at the spring meetings of the Faculty Athletics Representative Committee.
Also, the recipients must be accepted for postgraduate studies at an institution of higher learning at the time of receipt of the scholarship. The recipients must have completed eligibility for participation in intercollegiate athletics in the academic year in which nominated.
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Redbird senior Sydney Laufenberg will continue her storybook season this weekend when she competes in the discus at the U.S. Olympic Trials on Friday, June 18 at 6 p.m. Central Time (4 p.m. Pacific Time) at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
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