Valparaiso University cross country standout Alexander Bruno (Bloomington, Ill./ University) was one 12 runners named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete team this week.

Student-athletes are recognized for their performance both on the course and in the classroom, as they must finish among the first 20 runners at the conference championship and hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 or better.  

Bruno, who owns a 3.76 GPA in mathematics education, earned First Team All-MVC status by virtue of his eighth-place finish at last Saturday’s conference championship meet at Sunset Hills Farm County Park in Valparaiso. Bruno finished the race with a time of 25:17.8 and was recognized alongside teammate Dominic Paoletti (Monroe, Mich./ Monroe St. Mary), who received an All-MVC Honorable Mention, as his finish of 25:29.6 was good for 13^th place. Their efforts helped Valpo bring home the program’s first top-5 finish at a conference meet since 2007.

This marks the second consecutive year Bruno has been named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete team for cross country. He also earned 2018 Scholar-Athlete nods for indoor and outdoor track and field as well as 2017 Horizon League All-Academic Team honors for outdoor track and field. In addition to his MVC hardware, the two-time All-MVC performer tops the Valpo program record books in both the 8K (24:23) and 10K (31:54.4).

Valpo’s next action will come Saturday, Nov. 15 when the teams head to Madison, Wis. for the Great Lakes Regional.