Four In A Row For MacMurray
MacMurray College used another big spring push to claim their fourth consecutive St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference SAAC Service Award. This marked the first year of the newly reformulated SLIAC/SAAC Service Award, factoring in community service hours, monetary donations, and various food and clothing drives.
MacMurray trailed by over 3,000 points after the first semester but totaled nearly 16,000 points in the second semester to bring their yearly total to 23,657.50 points. Highlander student-athletes totaled over 19,000 of their points from community service and charitable donations. They added another 3,000 from clothing items and just over 1,000 points for canned food items.
Iowa Wesleyan University was edged out after leading the first semester with nearly 12,000 points. The Tiger student-athletes added over another 11,000 points in the second semester to bring their yearly totals to 23,524.50; finishing the closest race in the service award history since it was first awarded four years ago. The Tigers had over 1,100 service hours in the spring alone and raised nearly $2,000 for Men's Basketball Alum Joe Lennon's fight against cancer.
Westminster College finished third in the race with 9,685 total points. The Blue Jays spent time volunteering with local Special Olympics organizations and also raised the most money for the conference-wide Coaches vs. Cancer event, raising nearly $2,000.
Webster University finished with 8,470 points and Fontbonne University totaled 7,108 points with both schools designating a school-wide community service day this past academic year.
Greenville College finished with 1,250 points, spending 75 hours working in their community and raising $500 for donations.
Blackburn collected over 250 canned food and boxed good items for their local food shelter, totaling 126 points.
The SLIAC/SAAC Service Award was established in 2013 with the goal of recognizing an institution that went above and beyond in giving back to their community. In 2016 the SLIAC expanded the award criteria to include community service projects, collections (food and clothing), and donations. Full criteria and the point system is listed below: