Gillum, Santos take home MVC Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete Awards

Illinois State's Jake Gillum and Ashley Santos were awarded the Missouri Valley Conference Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete Awards for track and field and soccer, respectively, as announced by the league Tuesday. 

In 41 years at Southern Illinois University, Dr. Charlotte West served as head coach, associate athletics director, interim athletics director and senior woman administrator for the Salukis. 

Criteria for the award that has been around since 2000 include academic achievement, athletics excellence and service and leadership. 

Gillum earned a bachelor's degree in May, 2021 in exercise science and earned a 4.0 GPA. The Metamora, Illinois, native has been named the Doug Collins Male Student-Athlete of the Year, earned a Robert G. Bone Scholarship, been a recipient of the MVC President's Council Academic Excellence Award and has been named to the Dean's List every semester at ISU in his time as a Redbird. 

Outside of the classroom, he took home the 2021 MVC Indoor Championship in the mile and won 2019 and 2022 indoor conference titles as part of two different distance medley relay teams. Gillum finished his career in the top six in ISU history in four different events. 

Santos, who earned two All-MVC First Team awards along with two honorable mentions and an All-MVC Freshman Team, broke the ISU record for minutes played, matches played and matches started during the 2021 season. 

In her time as a Redbird, the Falls Church, Virginia, native earned an MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, was a two-time MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team honoree and was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American. Santos is the second ISU soccer player to earn the award after Anna Stinson in 2014.