INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) announced Tuesday that Southwest Baptist University has been named the recipient of the GLVC James R. Spalding Overall Sportsmanship Award for the 2023-24 season. In addition, 28 student-athletes, one male and one female per school, have been named James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, while 25 teams – one per sport, plus one tie – were previously recognized after learning of their honor during their respective All-Conference process.
Each institution – through the head coach – names one award honoree in each sport sponsored. These individual sport honorees became candidates for the individual James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award. Each institution then selects one male and one female student-athlete from its season-long list of honorees to be named as James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Individual Award winners.
Furthermore, during the initial nomination process, each institution’s coach ranks the top-three teams within the sport that best displayed good sportsmanship throughout the season. The team with the highest point total is then named that sport’s James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Team Award winner. At the conclusion of the academic year, the institution that accumulated the highest point total across all sports is named the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Overall Award winner.
This accolade is the third for Southwest Baptist since it joined the league in 2019. Under the guidance of Director of Athletics Clark Sheehy, the Bearcats accumulated the most points during the 2023-24 season, featuring team sportsmanship wins in baseball, both men’s and women’s cross country, women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, as well as volleyball.
Behind SBU’s six team sportsmanship selections was William Jewell College with five for men’s and women’s basketball, men’s golf, men’s lacrosse, and men’s soccer. University of Missouri-St. Louis scored three wins in men’s and women’s swimming & diving, as well as women’s golf, while three schools had two teams each with selections that included men’s indoor and outdoor track & field for Missouri S&T; men’s tennis and wrestling for Quincy University; and football and women’s soccer for Truman State University. Drury University (women’s tennis), University of Indianapolis (women’s golf), Lewis University (women’s lacrosse), Newman University (women’s bowling), and Upper Iowa University (softball) had one team recognized.
Among the notables for the sport winners, since the 2015-16 season, Truman repeated as the football honoree to score its league-best seventh accolade overall with the women’s soccer team also picking up its league-best fourth selection, including the third in a row. Other multiple recipients included a league-high six for Quincy men’s tennis and three-straight for Jewell men’s and women’s basketball. Upper Iowa picked up its first honor ever in the Peacocks’ inaugural year as league members, while UMSL men’s and women’s swim & dive also earned first-time nods, as did Quincy wrestling, and Jewell men’s lacrosse.
SBU joins 11 other schools as award winners in the 15-year period the honor has been presented. Former league members Northern Kentucky University claimed the inaugural award in 2007-08 when the accolade was chosen by the GLVC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), University of Wisconsin-Parkside earned it in 2008-09, Bellarmine University claimed back-to-back titles in 2009-10 and 2010-11 before its league-best third award was won in 2017-18, and University of Southern Indiana won the title for the 2011-12 academic year. Drury then took home top honors in 2012-13, Lewis University won for 2013-14, and William Jewell was distinguished in 2014-15. Maryville picked up the accolade in 2015-16 when the process and namesake changed, Truman garnered its first title in 2016-17 with another recognition in 2018-19, while SBU won back to back in 2020-21 and 2021-22 before Missouri S&T snagged its first honor last year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that suspended spring sports competition in 2020, no overall school sportsmanship award could be determined.
The GLVC renamed its annual sportsmanship award in 2016 after Spalding, who is referenced as one of the league’s two “Founding Fathers” and for his longtime service at Bellarmine. Spalding was first a basketball student-athlete at Bellarmine, who later returned to serve his alma mater as assistant basketball coach (1957-66), head basketball coach (1966-71), men's cross country/track coach (1961-75), men's tennis coach (1961-62), and men's golf coach (1967-69), before being elevated to director of athletics (1971-94). During his tenure as AD, Spalding expanded Bellarmine's participation in intercollegiate sports from four to 16 teams and played a prominent role in both the formation of the GLVC and the sponsorship expansion of women's athletics within the league. Long revered as one of the league's pioneers, Spalding was inducted as a charter member of the GLVC Hall of Fame in 2001. He died in 2012 at the age of 79, following a lengthy illness.
A complete list of individual and team winners follows below.
2023-24 GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS
| School |
Male Winner |
Female Winner |
| Drury |
Cole Sutton, Track & Field |
Josie Bushell, Swimming & Diving |
| Illinois Springfield |
Jason Bergstrom, Basketball |
Sierra Cenek, Soccer |
| Indianapolis |
Josiah Tynes, Basketball |
Macey Brown, Golf |
| Lewis |
Ryan Renfro, Basketball |
Kendall Farm, Golf |
| Maryville |
Kelvin Mulinya, Soccer |
Natalie Heltne, Bowling |
| McKendree |
Rasmus Nilsson, Golf |
Maria Vitoria Salomao, Tennis |
| Missouri S&T |
Micah Johnson, Basketball |
Grace Giesler, Cross Country/Track |
| Missouri-St. Louis |
Trent Anderson, Baseball |
Anna Favaron, Tennis |
| Quincy |
Ettore Pavesi, Tennis |
Kealani Neves, Basketball |
| Rockhurst |
Marco Mathon, Track & Field |
Mae Beins, Lacrosse |
| Southwest Baptist |
Zeke Skinner, Baseball |
Ella Rademaker, Volleyball |
| Truman |
Luke Turner, Baseball |
Catherine Salem, Golf |
| Upper Iowa |
Chase Luensman, Wrestling |
Haylie Hutchinson, Soccer |
| William Jewell |
Harley Branch, Cross Country |
Rylie May, Soccer |
2023-24 GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM AWARD WINNERS
| Baseball: Southwest Baptist |
Women’s Basketball: William Jewell |
| Men’s Basketball: William Jewell |
Women’s Bowling: Newman |
| Men’s Cross Country: Southwest Baptist |
Women’s Cross Country: Southwest Baptist |
| Football: Truman State |
Women’s Golf: UIndy and Missouri-St. Louis |
| Men’s Golf: William Jewell |
Women’s Lacrosse: Lewis |
| Men’s Lacrosse: William Jewell |
Women’s Soccer: Truman State |
| Men’s Soccer: William Jewell |
Softball: Upper Iowa |
| Men’s Swimming & Diving: Missouri-St. Louis |
Women’s Swimming & Diving: Missouri-St. Louis |
| Men’s Tennis: Quincy |
Women’s Tennis: Drury |
| Men’s Indoor Track & Field: Missouri S&T |
Women’s Indoor Track & Field: Southwest Baptist |
| Men’s Outdoor Track & Field: Missouri S&T |
Women’s Outdoor Track & Field: Southwest Baptist |
| Wrestling: Quincy |
Volleyball: Southwest Baptist |
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