Valley Release
 
ST. LOUIS – Grace Breiten of the Missouri State women's cross country team was selected to the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Scholar-Athlete Team, the league office announced on Tuesday.
 
The junior from Chesterfield, Mo. carries a 3.67 GPA as a special education major while leading the team in scoring in five of the six meets this season.
 
Breiten qualified for the conference honor this past weekend at the 2019 MVC Cross Country Championships in Valparaiso, Ind., finishing 18th among the 79 Valley runners with a five-kilometer time of 18:59.6. 
 
As the holder of the program's sixth-fastest 5k time, Breiten earned All-Conference laurels at the MVC Championships last year with a fifth-place finish, following an All-MVC Honorable Mention in her freshman season.
 
Scholar-Athlete honors require athletes to meet performance standards, as they must finish among the first 20 runners at the conference championship and hold at least a cumulative 3.2 GPA and be a sophomore in athletic and academic standing to earn a spot on the MVC Scholar-Athlete team.
 
Up next for Breiten and the MSU cross country squad is the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships which will be held in Stillwater, Okla. on Nov. 15.
 
For more information on the Missouri State cross country team, visit MissouriStateBears.com or visit the team Twitter @MSUBearsTrackXC and Facebook.