PEORIA, Ill. -- Sophomore men's golfer Zach Wanken (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) has been named a first-team Missouri Valley Conference scholar-athlete announced by the league office. Wanken is the first Bradley men's golfer to earn first-team MVC scholar-athlete honors since Dan Krause in 1999.

Just the fifth player in program history to earn Valley scholar-athlete recognition, Wanken led the Braves with a 77.6 stroke average and shot a team-best 20 rounds in the 70's. He was one of two players on the team to play in every round and was Bradley's top finisher in five of 10 tournaments. He joined Krause (1999), Ryan Blask (1997 & 1998), Adam Rosuck (1994) and Matt Michel (1993) as the only players in program history to earn MVC scholar-athlete recognition.

Wanken carded a career-low 68 in the first round of the D.A. Weibring Invitational in Normal, Ill., in the fall and paced the Braves at the MVC Championship where he tied for 25th after shooting a final-round 70. A mechanical engineering major with a 3.88 cumulative grade point average, Wanken has been named to the Bradley Athletic Director's Honor Roll all three semesters at BU.

The criteria for the MVC scholar-athlete team parallel the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for academic ESPN the Magazine All-America voting. Nominees must have at least a 3.00 cumulative grade point average (4.0 scale) and have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institutions.