BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference Medal of Honor went to eight Tennessee Tech University student-athletes for achieving the highest grades in their sport in 2014-15. The honors were announced Monday by the league office. It comes days after the OVC announced that Tech landed 92 student-athletes on the OVC Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll.
The OVC Academic Medal of Honor Presented by Army ROTC is given annually to the student-athletes who achieves the highest grade point average in a Conference-sponsored sport. Every Academic Medal of Honor recipient for the 2014-15 academic year carried a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
Of the 199 award winners, 26 were awarded Academic Medals of Honor for multiple sports (and counted just once in the final list of recipients). That category includes Tennessee Tech distance runner Baylee Balgemann, who earned the award in both cross country and track & field.
In addition to Balgemann, Tennessee Tech Medal of Honor recipients include Allison Barlow, McKenzie McCloud and Mackenzie Miller in soccer, Brooklyn Kimball in track & field, Patrick Prewitt in football, Mekenzie Weems in softball and Kellie Williams in volleyball.
The 199 recipients are the second-most in the 22-year history of the award, trailing only the 212 winners in 2012-13. Over
the past five years there have been 942 student-athletes earn the OVC Academic Medal of Honor.
Last Friday the league announced that a record 1,275 student-athletes earned a spot on the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll
for carrying a 3.25 grade point average or higher last academic year. The League will announce the winner of the Academic
Achievement Award and Team Academic Achievement Awards on Wednesday.
"Our student-athletes and our teams continue to excel in the classroom, and these eight have achieved at the highest level to receive this honor,” said Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. “We are so proud of their accomplishments, and I congratulate each of them
Tech’s 2014-15 OVC Medal of Honor winners (8) are:
Baylee Balgeman (women's cross country and track & field)
Allison Barlow (soccer)
Brooklyn Kimball (track & field)
McKenzie McCloud (soccer)
Mackenzie Miller (soccer)
Patrick Prewitt (football)
Mekenzie Weems (softball)
Kellie Williams (volleyball)
