BURNSVILLE, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State University senior student-athletes,
Kyra Kusnierek, and
Evan Behn, have been named Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Honor Student-Athletes as part of the league's Britton/Kelly Awards announced Thursday morning.
NSIC members nominate one female and one male student-athlete for the Britton/Kelly Awards and come from a criteria of a grade point average of 3.5 or better, evidence of academic excellence beyond the minimum GPA (scholarship prizes and other academic recognition), evidence of participation in the life of the institution, and evidence of participation in at least two-thirds of the varsity events of the individual's primary sport.
Kusnierek, a native of Eagan, Minn., is a four-year letter winner for both the cross country and track & field teams at SMSU and is majoring in elementary education with a Spanish minor.
Behn, a native of Boone, Iowa, recently completed his final season as a member of the baseball team and is majoring in ag business.
The Britton Scholar-Athlete Award for Academic Excellence, in its 42nd year, recognizes the NSIC's top male student-athlete and the Kelly Scholar-Athlete Award, in its 41st year, is presented to the NSIC's top female student-athlete. Minnesota Duluth's Elizabeth VanLoon earned the Kelly Award, while MSU Moorhead's Jack Strand received the Britton Award.
The Britton Award was created in 1985 in honor of Dr. William Britton, a longtime faculty representative at Bemidji State University who served on the Athletic Board of Control of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference for 25 years. Britton retired from BSU in 1982 and passed away in March of 2019.
The Kelly Award is named in honor of Willis R. Kelly, an associate professor of physical education at the University of Minnesota-Morris. A member of the NSIC Hall of Fame, Kelly also coordinated the Minnesota-Morris Physical Education Department from 1970-87. She became the first director of women's intercollegiate athletics at Minnesota-Morris in 1976 and was later promoted to athletics director for the whole department. Kelly passed away in 1988.
