ST. LOUIS – Illinois State softball senior Emme Olson was named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete First Team while junior Dayna Kennedy and sophomore Reili Gardner earned spots on the Honorable Mention Team.
Olson is a now a three-time MVC Scholar-Athlete, earning First Team honors in 2020 and an honorable mention nod a season ago. She currently holds a 3.88 cumulative GPA for the school year in her Masters of Professional Accounting. Olson has been awarded All-MVC Second Team honors as well as CoSIDA Academic All-District honors this season, and was also named a Senior CLASS Award Candidate. She finished with a .324 average in conference, leading the team in doubles with nine and walks with 15. In conference play, Olson was ranked in the top 10 in on-base percentage (.448), doubles (9), and walks (15).
Kennedy is earning her first MVC Scholar-Athlete nod after she was selected to the All-Tournament Team and named All-MVC First Team this season. Kennedy, a Health Information and Management major, boasted a 3.67 cumulative GPA in the classroom in 2021-22. She finished with 12 home runs on the season with nine coming in the conference season. Her .373 batting average, .843 slugging percentage, 1.272 OPS, and 9 home runs in conference play ranked her top 10 in the conference in all of the previously mentioned categories.
Gardner also earns an MVC-Scholar Athlete Honorable Mention nod for the first time in her career. The sophomore from Dyersville, Iowa collected a cumulative 4.00 GPA this season in Biochemistry. Her chemistry on the field seemed to be excelling as well because Gardner improved from a .233 batting average in 2021 to .301 in 2022. She earned Valley player of the week honors back on March 8th for her performance at the Florida Atlantic tournament. She appeared in 51 of 52 games for the Redbirds this season, with 43 hits and 24 runs scored – both improvements from a season ago.
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