St. Bonifacius, Minn. - The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference announced the finalists for its annual Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award on Wednesday, Travis Verkuilen and Ruth Brueckner were the finalists selected to represent Crown College.

Each spring, the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) recognizes outstanding senior student-athletes who demonstrate a healthy balance by achieving excellence in academics, leadership, and service while participating in intercollegiate athletics, through the UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award. The UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award is presented to student-athletes who embody what it means to be an NCAA Division III student-athlete. Through this award, the UMAC recognizes the role athletics plays in developing leaders by rewarding athletes' excellence in the classroom as well as their service to the community. 
 
The NCAA Division III student-athlete is unique among intercollegiate athletes because, at Division III institutions, student-athletes receive no financial aid for athletics participation. Such institutions emphasize the overall quality of the educational experience and the successful completion of the student's academic program; athletic participation is an important part of that educational experience. Division III provides opportunities for student-athletes to be a part of numerous campus activities in addition to athletics, and these finalists have maximized those opportunities.
 
Brueckner and Verkuilen were selected as finalists for the award and the winners will be selected by the UMAC Council of Faculty Athletics Representatives. Winners of the Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award – which will be given to one male and one female – and will be announced Wednesday, April 23.