Missouri State senior cross country standout Carrie Vestal has been selected as one of 10 recipients of the Missouri Valley Conference’s Good Neighbor Award. The MVC has partnered with State Farm Insurance in creating the award, which honors model student-athletes who demonstrate good citizenship.

Vestal captured individual titles at the Washington University Early Bird and Missouri State Classic, led the Bears in every race except the regional and earned her second All-MVC honor in cross country with her fourth-place finish at the conference meet. She turned in her top performance of the season with a run of 17:37.78 to lead a group of three Bears who earned all-conference honors by finishing in the top 10 at the Valley meet. Additionally, her win at WashU was the first by a Missouri State runner since the 2005 season.

In addition to her athletic accomplishments, Vestal is a two-time MVC Scholar-Athlete and seven-time Missouri State Dean’s List honoree. The Springfield, Mo., native has served as MSU’s conference SAAC representative and has been active in numerous MSU track and field service projects throughout her career.

Nine additional student-athletes were named by Commissioner Doug Elgin as the honorees for this past fall, including Todd Reedy of Bradley, Kari Tanimoto of Creighton, Lauren Hoguta of Drake, Daniel Gibson of Evansville, Luke Drone of Illinois State, Shae Fehribach of Indiana State, Kristin Belzung of UNI, Erika Bartruff of Southern Illinois, and Sara Lungren of Wichita State.

In order to be eligible for the award, the student-athlete must be in good academic standing, must demonstrate good citizenship through good sportsmanship and significant community service, and must participate in a sport, during the season of recognition.