Duncan Named MIAA Sheila Wallace Kovalchik Female Scholar-Athlete

FREELAND, Mich. - Recent Saint Mary's College graduate Makenzie Duncan was named the recipient of the 2018 Sheila Wallace Kovalchik Scholar-Athlete Award as the top female senior scholar-athlete by the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) on Monday.

"It is an honor to recognize Makenzie Duncan as the Sheila Wallace Kovalchik Scholar-Athlete Award recipient for 2018," said Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Commissioner Penny Allen-Cook. "This year's nominations truly embodied what it means to be an MIAA student-athlete, and Makenzie emerged as the top candidate. Not only were Makenzie's academic successes second-to-none, but her overall character and athletic achievement demonstrate the spirit of the Kovalchik Award."

The award recognizes one senior class student-athlete who has excelled in academics and athletics, as well as displayed outstanding leadership qualities. The award honors former MIAA commissioners Sheila Wallace Kovalchik (1991-2002).

A native of La Salle, Michigan, and a graduate of Saint Mary Catholic Central, Duncan was a four-year starter for the Saint Mary's softball team. Duncan is the program's all-time leader in triples in a season, triples in a career, RBI in a season, and RBI in a career. Additionally, she is third in program history in doubles, fourth in single-season doubles, fifth in career hits and career home runs, and sixth in single-season hits. She was named Second Team All-MIAA in 2017, First Team All-MIAA in 2018, Second Team All-Region in the Central Region in 2018, and was named to the 2018 NCAA Division III Softball Championship Notre Dame, IN Regional All-Tournament Team for her efforts in the Belles' first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

Away from the softball field, she has been involved with a wide range of activities. Duncan served as a campus ally and was a social media chair for the Belles Against Violence Office, was a teaching assistant for both the mathematics and biology departments, worked as a student assistant in the Department of Athletics, and volunteered with Chet Waggoner Little League and the annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day Clinic hosted by Saint Mary's Athletics. A member of the Biology Club, she served as the group's secretary and helped coordinate volunteering and tutoring opportunities for fellow students. She also volunteered at both the University of Toledo's Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center and at Mercy Physical Therapy during her summer breaks. Her academic work and research has been published by both LibreText and Frontiers of Microbiology.

A two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District® honoree, she was named the 2018 Google Cloud Division III Women’s Softball Academic All-America® of the Year and First Team Academic All-America® by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) at the beginning of June.

Duncan graduated in May from Saint Mary's with a 4.00 grade point average with a major in integrative biology and a minor in chemistry. A co-valedictorian for the class of 2018, she began the physician assistant program at Midwestern University in Downers Grove, Illinois, earlier this month.

Makenzie Duncan is the daughter of Chris and Tim Duncan.

She is the third Saint Mary's student-athlete who has garnered the conference's highest individual distinction, joining Ashley Peterson '10 and Julia Adams '05.