The Elite 18 Award Program was established by the Missouri Valley Conference 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 a athletic performance threshold (for instance, in cross country, the eligible student-athletes must have finished among the top 10 at the championship meet).

2010-11 Elite 18 Winners    
Name, School GPA  Major  Sport 
Emily Toennies, Southern Illinois  4.00 Biological Sciences Women's Cross Country
Brett Egan, Northern Iowa 3.97 Mathematics Men's Cross Country
Alicia Montgomery, Creighton 3.81 Math/Secondary Education Women's Soccer
Bobby Smith, Bradley 3.90 Accounting Men's Soccer
Beth Discher, Northern Iowa 4.00 Accounting Volleyball
       
Christina Schmidgall, Evansville 4.00 Athletic Training Swimming & Diving
Emily Toennies, Southern Illinois 4.00 Biological Sciences Women's Indoor Track & Field
Jordan Zerr, Wichita State 3.98 Aerospace Engineering Men's Indoor Track & Field
Lucas Eitel, Indiana State 3.76 Mathematics Education Men's Basketball
Jacqui Kalin, Northern Iowa 4.00 Movement & Exercise Science: Sport Psychology Women's Basketball
       
Katherine Jean, Illinois State 4.00 Actuarial Science Women's Golf
Coby Thompson, Bradley 4.00 Chemistry Men's Golf
Jonathan Hadash, Drake 3.85 Accounting Men's Tennis
Hannah Esker, Illinois State 4.00 Actuarial Science Women's Tennis
Lucas Cherry, Southern Illinois 4.00 Management Men's Outdoor Track & Field
Toni Whitfield, Southern Illinois 4.00 Civil Engineering Women's Outdoor Track & Field
Brynne Dordel, Drake 4.00 Accounting/Finanace Softball
Ty Blach, Creighton 3.81 Finance and Accounting Baseball