Contact: Emily Adlfinger, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

Chi Alpha Sigma Announcement

Sept. 3, 2020 – Adding to her list of distinguished awards, Loras College women's cross country and track and field alumna Audrey Miller '20 has been named the Chi Alpha Sigma Scholar Female Athlete of the Year by the national honor society for student-athletes. Miller becomes the first recipient from Loras and the second female honoree for the organization after the inception of the awards during the 2018-19 academic year.

Chi Alpha Sigma is the first, and only, national scholar-athlete society to honor those four-year collegiate student-athletes who have excelled in both the classroom and in athletic competition. Chi Alpha Sigma recognizes college student-athletes who participate in a sport at the varsity intercollegiate level, achieve junior academic standing or higher after their fifth full time semester, and earn a 3.4 or higher cumulative grade point average. Student-athletes who compete for a collegiate club team are also eligible if the club team is overseen by the athletics department at the local chapter.

The Scholar-Athlete of the Year award recognizes one male and one female student-athlete who have each demonstrated academic and athletic achievement, as well as service and leadership both on-campus and in the community. Nominees must be junior or senior Chi Alpha Sigma inductees who have maintained a minimum of a 3.40 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) throughout their collegiate careers and demonstrated how their experiences as scholar-athletes have influenced and empowered them to be successful after graduation.​

Miller recently graduated with a degree in chemistry and has established herself as one of the most impressive student-athletes to come out of the cross country and track and field program. She was the 2016 runner-up at the NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championship as a sophomore and placed 25th as a fifth-year senior in 2019, making her a two-time NCAA Division III All-American and USTFCCCA Scholar All-American. She holds the program record in 6,000-meter races, stands as the highest NCAA national championship finisher in program history and has earned four Academic All-Conference honors over the course of her cross country career. In track and field, she is a four-time All-American and holds the 3,000 and 5,000-meter records indoors as well as the 5,000 and 10,000-meter records outdoors.

After her final season with the Duhawks, the Appleton, Wis. native continued to bring in the honors, earning the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, becoming the first member of the cross country and track and field program to do so, in addition to her second CoSIDA Academic All-America selection.

Outside of athletics, Miller was a student astronomy presenter, a part of the Athletic Directors Council and has presented her research at multiple national conferences. She was the Freshman and Senior Chemistry Award winner and McElroy Graduate Fellowship recipient. Miller recently began her Ph. D at the University of California-Davis in Geochemistry/Planetary Sciences.

Chi Alpha Sigma's National Scholar-Athlete of the Year award began during the 2018-19 academic year. Miller and Vazaios now become the third and fourth recipients of the award, joining last year's inaugural winners Aliyah Gustafson (Bowling Green State University) and Cole Rosenberger (Johns Hopkins University).