Six Cardinals Recognized as MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes

MUNCIE, Ind. – Six Ball State student-athletes from the fall sports season were recently named Mid-American Conference Distinguished Scholar Athletes, recognized as the "best of the best" from their sports' Academic All-MAC teams. Voting was handled by faculty athletic representatives from around the MAC.

Field hockey back Anya Eicher earned Distinguished Scholar Athlete status for the third year in a row. Eicher tallied the game-winning assist in Ball State's 3-2 double overtime win over Ohio on Oct. 5 and went on to earn All-MAC first team accolades.

Two women's volleyball players made a return to this prestigious list for a second straight year – Kate Avila and Amber Seaman. Avila was a two-time MAC West Division Player of the Week this past fall and collected double-digit digs in all 32 of Ball State's matches. Seaman was the first player in program history to earn MAC Setter of the Year honors.

Three other Ball State student-athletes were recognized for the first time as MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes – field hockey's Jenna McKune, football's Riley Miller and soccer's Taylor Pooley.

Now in its fifth year, the Distinguished Scholar Athlete Award honors those who have excelled in athletics and academics. The MAC faculty athletic representatives selected the 'best of the best' from the Academic All-MAC Teams with a 3.50 GPA or higher to the Distinguished Scholar Athlete Award list. The number of final selections for each sport was equivalent to the size of the all-conference first team in that sport, or 20 percent of the nominees, whichever is greater.

2018 MAC Fall Sport Distinguished Scholar Athletes (Ball State)
Field Hockey
*#Anya Eicher, Ball State, Senior, 3.913 GPA, Business Administration (Boort, Victoria, Australia)
Jenna McKune, Ball State, Sophomore, 3.965 GPA, Pre-Med/Bio (Louisville, Ky.)

Football
Riley Miller, Ball State, Junior, 3.587 GPA, Exercise Science (Yorktown, Ind.)

Soccer
Taylor Pooley, Ball State, Senior, 3.933 GPA, Psychology (Granger, Ind.)

Women's Volleyball
*Kate Avila, Ball State, Junior, 3.983, Speech Language Pathology (Yorktown, Ind.)
*Amber Seaman, Ball State, Junior, 3.893, Psychological Science (Carmel, Ind.)

*2017 Distinguished Scholar Athlete
#2016 Distinguished Scholar Athlete

Six Cardinals Recognized as MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes

Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Anya Eicher

Jenna McKune

Riley Miller

Taylor Pooley

Amber Seaman

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