ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Senior men's golfer Coby Thompson (East Galesburg, Ill./Knoxville) was one of two unanimous choices for the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete team according to an announcement by the league office Tuesday.  Thompson joins former teammate Zach Wanken as the only three-time MVC scholar-athlete selections in program history.

The recipient of the Valley's inaugural men's golf Elite 18 award, Thompson earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors after placing sixth at the 2011 State Farm MVC Championship.  Bradley's leader in stroke average each of the last two seasons, he was the 2011 Charles Orsborn Award winner; which is presented annually to the senior student-athlete who best combines athletic and academic success with community service.

Thompson posted seven career top-10 finishes and finished out his career as just the fourth player in program history with 80 or more career rounds in the 70's.  A 2010 first-team CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, he is a chemistry major with a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average and will attend medical school in the fall.

The criteria for the MVC scholar-athlete team parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for academic Capital One Academic All-America® program.  Nominees must have at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (4.0 scale), while the student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institutions and must have participated in at least 50 percent of his team's rounds or played at the State Farm MVC Championship.

Bradley has had a first-team MVC Scholar-Athlete in each of the last four years, joining Southern Illinois as the only Valley teams to claim that distinction.