SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Summit League officials announced their 2019-20 Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award honorees on Thursday. This year's recipients were Denver’s Will Palmquist and North Dakota State’s Shelby Gunnells, who were rewarded for their outstanding academic achievements, athletic achievements, attitude and leadership throughout the unprecedented 2019-20 academic year.

The Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award is the most prestigious accolade The Summit League bestows each year and is determined by a vote of the league's faculty athletic representatives.



WILL PALMQUIST
On the pitch, Palmquist was the starting goalkeeper for the 2019 Summit League Tournament Champions, earning a spot on the all-tournament team for his work between the pipes. He had six shutouts during his junior campaign to bring his career total to 12 in that category.
As a sophomore in 2018, he was named the Summit League Goalkeeper of the Year and was a first-team All-Summit League performer for the regular season and tournament-champion Pioneers.

In the classroom, Palmquist graduated Summa Cum Laude following the 2020 Winter quarter with a double-major in Finance and Business Analytics. He completed this course work, including an undergraduate thesis which is required for the highest Latin honor at the University of Denver, in less than four years. He also earned the Chancellor’s scholarship and Hornbeck Scholarship, while earning 4.0 GPA in six different quarters.

With one season of eligibility remaining, Palmquist is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Applied Quantitative Finance.

Off the field, Palmquist has participated in numerous community outreach activities, specifically serving as the president of the youth advisory board for the Colorado Young Leaders organization while also representing the Pioneers on the Summit League Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The Denver native’s service in his home community, includes planning and executing volunteer service projects for local high schools.



SHELBY GUNNELLS
Gunnells was named the 2020 Summit League Indoor Field Athlete of the Year and earned Summit League Indoor Championship MVP honors just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic forcing the cancelation of spring sports, including the outdoor track season.

She won the indoor shot put title and placed third in the weight throw at The 2020 Summit League Championships to garner the MVP accolade. Gunnells ranked eighth nationally in the shot put and had qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships that were also canceled.

As a junior, she earned second team All-America honors after placing ninth in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Championships and redshirted during the outdoor season. In all four of her indoor Summit League Championships, she had top-eight finishes in the shot put and weight throw.

In outdoor events, she had top-eight finishes at The Summit League Championships in 2016 and 2017 as a freshman and sophomore, respectively, in the shot put, hammer throw and javelin. She qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in all three of her competitive seasons, earning a total of five appearances between the shot put and hammer throw.

In the classroom, Gunnells earned a bachelor's degree in geology this past spring with a perfect 4.0 GPA and will add a minor in chemistry as she competes one final time for the Bison during the 2021 outdoor season. She will continue her education at Texas A&M University where she has been granted delayed admission into the school’s PhD program in Chemical Oceanography.

Gunnells was recently selected into the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Program, earning a Fulbright grant to do research in Norway. Ultimately, she declined the award to return to NDSU for her final season as a Bison thrower. Gunnells has received the Allen C. Ashworth scholarship twice during her career, which is given to the NDSU student majoring in geology with the highest academic standing. She was also the recipient of the Blue Key Honor Society scholarship. She has been honored twice as a CoSIDA Academic All-American, earning first-team honors in 2020.

Her service to the Fargo community includes volunteering with Hospice of the Red River Valley and preparing and delivering meals for the Salvation Army. She also participates in “FargoMania”, which is an adaptive fitness competition allowing athletes with disabilities or special needs to showcase their abilities.

Also nominated for Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Lukas Buth, North Dakota // Trevor Otterdahl, North Dakota State // Ugo Tritz, Omaha // Emmanuel Nzekwesi, Oral Roberts // Zack Anderson, South Dakota // Kobe Webster, Western Illinois

Also nominated for Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Erica Eades, North Dakota // Ciara Duffy, South Dakota // Emma Dargy, Omaha // Olivia Kaufmann, Western Illinois // Sasha Wells, Oral Roberts // Maggie Smither, South Dakota State // Mary Weinstein, Denver

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