SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Summit League officials announced the 2022-23 Daktronics Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award honoree was Max Abmas as Oral Roberts had 209 student-athletes on the league's academic honor roll and academic excellence list.

Abmas is just the second male from Oral Roberts to earn the award joining Ben Houltberg from the Golden Eagles' men's track and field team, who claimed the honor in 2000-01. 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. 

In the classroom, Abmas graduated summa cum laude in May with a 3.81 GPA in math/pre-med concentration. He has been named to the Summit League Commissioner's List and Academic Honor Roll each year he has been eligible. Abmas is also the only three-time winner of ORU's "Whole Person Champion Award", which honors athletic accomplishment, academic achievement and spiritual commitment.

The Summit League officials released a list of nearly 1,900 student-athletes that have been named the Academic Honor Roll. The list includes students from all ten member institutions and six associate members competing in 17 different sports.

Qualifications

• Student-athletes must have at least a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average (GPA), on a 4.0 scale, for the year awarded.
• Student-athletes must have used a season of competition (a year of athletic eligibility) in the sport in which he/she is nominated.

By The Numbers

• A total of 1,899 student-athletes across 17 sports were honored.
• For the second consecutive year, St. Thomas had the most total selections and total number of student-athletes to the academic honor roll.
• The Tommies had 276 total selections while Omaha (258) and South Dakota State (220) were second and third, respectively.
• St. Thomas paced the League with 257 total student-athletes with the Mavericks (242) and the Jackrabbits (200) rounding out the top three.

NOTE: "Selections" account for duplicated student-athletes on the list in the sports of cross country and track and field.

Academic Honor Roll Rankings (by total number of selections):
St. Thomas – 276
Omaha – 258
South Dakota State – 220
South Dakota – 202
North Dakota State – 212
Denver – 174
North Dakota – 173
Oral Roberts – 146
Western Illinois – 140
Kansas City – 133

Summit League officials announced that 1,071 student-athletes earned 2022-23 Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence distinction while Denver secured the Institutional Academic Achievement Award for the third time in its history. The list includes students from last year's ten member institutions and six associate members competing in 17 different sports. The list honors student-athletes for their hard work in the classroom during this past academic year.
 
Qualifications

• In order for a student-athlete to be selected to the Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence, the student-athlete must carry a 3.50 or better cumulative GPA, have used a year of eligibility and completed three full semesters or five quarters at the nominating institution.

By The Numbers

• A total of 1,071 student-athletes across 17 sports were honored.
• South Dakota State had the most total student-athletes selected with 120, while St. Thomas had the second most with 119 individual honorees.
• The Jackrabbits led the league in total number of selections, which includes duplicates for cross country and track and field, with 132. They were followed by St. Thomas (130) and South Dakota (122).
• Denver received The Summit League Institutional Academic Achievement Award for the third time in program history (2016-17, 2021-22). The Pioneers had 71.1 percent of their list-eligible student-athletes earn the academic excellence distinction.
• In addition, the league recognized Team Academic Achievement Awards for each sport based on the percentage of list-eligible student-athletes on the Commissioner's List. North Dakota led the way with five of its squads claiming a team title, while Denver had four squads followed by North Dakota State's three squads. Kansas City and South Dakota State garnered two team titles and Drake and Western Illinois each had one team on the list.

Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence (by total number of student-athletes):
South Dakota State – 120
St. Thomas - 119
Omaha – 115
South Dakota - 114
North Dakota State – 109
Denver – 101
Kansas City - 97
North Dakota – 93
Oral Roberts - 63
Western Illinois - 62