COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Chadron State senior Madison Clause was named the winner of the RMAC Women's Indoor Track and Field Summit Award, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest GPA competing at each sport's conference championship site.

Clause, a family and consumer sciences major from Billings, Montana, has a perfect 4.00 GPA through 143 completed credit hours. She received a plaque commemorating the honor at the RMAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in Gunnison this Saturday. 

In competition, Clause competed in the pole vault in four regular season meets plus this Saturday's RMAC meet. She finished seventh or better in all four regular-season competitions and achieved a season-best of 3.20 meters (10 feet, 6 inches) twice on December 5 and February 21. Clause was the No. 15 qualifier for the RMAC meet in the pole vault and finished 14th. 

Clause becomes the second Chadron State athlete to win the Summit Award this season, joining women's wrestling winner Shania Wear. CSC is one of only three RMAC schools (alongside MSU Denver and Colorado School of Mines) with multiple Summit Award winners so far this season. Owen Johnson of South Dakota Mines was named the Men's Indoor Track and Field winner on Saturday.

The RMAC's Summit Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA competing at the finals site of their respective sport's championship. Summit Award winners must compete in 20 percent of available competitions throughout the current season. All GPAs are based on a straight-grading scale to ensure consistency among nominees. All ties are broken by the total number of credit hours completed through the most recently concluded semester.
 
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be sophomores or above and have participated in their sport at their institution for at least two years. They must also be active members of their teams and travel to and compete at the RMAC championship event.