University of Evansville senior swimmer Christina Schmidgall has been chosen as recipient of the prestigious Missouri Valley Conference Elite 18 Award, as determined by league administrators.

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 at each of the MVC’s 18 team championships.

Throughout her four-year career, Schmidgall has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA as an athletic training major. She finished this weekend at the State Farm MVC Championship with three top-three times, including a second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Schimdgall also broke the UE record with her third place time of 4:58.06 in the 500-yard freestyle.