Young, Ford named to MVC Scholar-Athlete teams
WBB: The first of the Missouri Valley's postseason awards has been announced
The Missouri Valley Conference announced Tuesday that Murray State’s Katelyn Young earned a spot on the conference’s Scholar-Athlete First Team, while sophomore Haven Ford is on the Second Team.
The criteria for the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the College Sports Communicators (CSC) standards for Academic All-America nominations. Student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically and must be enrolled at their institution at the time of nomination either as undergraduates or graduate students. An undergraduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale), and a graduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) as both an undergraduate and a grad student unless they are in their first semester as a graduate student and don’t have an established graduate GPA.
Young received her bachelor’s degree in December of 2023 in Organizational Communication, graduating with a 3.72 GPA. She currently has a 4.0 GPA as she works towards a master’s degree in Human Development & Leadership. After being named honorable mention in 2023 and a spot on the Second Team in 2024, Young finally earned First Team honors this year.
Ford has a 4.0 GPA as she continues her work toward earning a degree in Health and Physical Education.
A total of 38 Valley student-athletes met the nomination criteria for scholar-athlete honors in 2025.
Here are the Missouri Valley student-athletes, with their grade, GPA and major, that made the Scholar Athlete teams:
First Team
Katie Dinnebier, Drake, Sr., 3.74, Pharmacy
Tuti Jones, Belmont, Gr., 4.00, Sports Management [3.95, Sports Management - undergrad]
Elyce Knudsen, Illinois State, Gr., 4.00, MBA [3.90, Finance (undergrad)]
Anna Miller, Drake, Sr., 4.00, Health Sciences
Nevaeh Thomas, Illinois State, So., 4.00, Exercise Science
Katelyn Young, Murray State, Gr., 4.00, Human Development & Leadership [3.72, Organizational Communication - undergrad]
Second Team
Courtney Becker, Drake, Gr., 3.87, Pharmacy, [3.87, Health Informatics & Data Analytics - undergrad]
Kiley Bess, Missouri State, Sr., 4.00, Sports Management
Kyrah Daniels, Missouri State, So., 4.00, Exercise & Movement Science
Haven Ford, Murray State, So., 4.00, Health & Physical Education
Kayba Laube, UNI, Sr., 3.89, Psychology & Biology
Third Team
Abbie Aalsma, Drake, Jr., 4.00, Elementary Education
Leah Earnest, Valparaiso, Gr., 3.71, MBA [3.72, Exercise Science (undergrad)]
Ryley Goebel, UNI, Jr., 3.85, Nursing
Kendall Holmes, Belmont, Gr., 3.92, Med School Pre-Requisites [3.90, General Studies - undergrad]
Amy O’Hara, Bradley, Jr., 4.00, Psychology