ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Sophomore runner Sarah McMahon (Colfax, Wis./Colfax) added another honor to a growing list of accomplishments, earning the Missouri Valley Conference Elite 18 Award at the recently completed MVC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The Elite 18 Award Program was established by The Valley in the fall of 2010 to honor the highest achievement in academics and athletics by a student-athlete in each MVC-sponsored sport. Modeled after the NCAA Elite 88 Academic Recognition Award Program, the MVC Elite 18 Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing at the finals site at each of the MVC's 18 team championships.
The selection process varies for each sport, and winners are chosen from a list of nominations submitted by MVC institutions. For the team sports of soccer, volleyball, basketball, tennis, baseball and softball, the winner will be chosen from the two teams participating in the championship game or match. For cross country, golf, swimming and diving, and track and field, the winners will be chosen from nominated student-athletes who have met athletic performance threshold (for instance, in cross country, the eligible student-athletes must have finished among the top 10 at the championship meet).
An English major with a 4.00 cumulative grade point average, McMahon shared the women's track and field Elite 18 award with Kelly Steffen of Indiana State.
McMahon helped the Bradley women's track and field team finish seventh at the conference indoor championship, accounting for 11 of BU's 25 points as the Braves finished with their highest team point total since 1999.
She earned the fifth all-conference honor of her career Sunday in the 5,000 meters, finishing third with a career-best time of 16:52.72. McMahon joined former Bradley All-American Mary Ellen Hill as the only individuals in program history to break 17 minutes in the 5,000 meters and finished 14 seconds off Hill's school-record time. On Saturday, McMahon placed fourth in the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:48.46, missing her career-best by five seconds and was four seconds from earning all-conference recognition in the event.
McMahon is scheduled to run Saturday in the 3,000 meters at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind.
