BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Twelve Saint Benedict basketball student-athletes earned 2025-26 Winter Academic All-MIAC recognition on Thursday, June 25.

CSB ranked third in the MIAC in female honorees for winter and spring, following Gustavus Adolphus (114) and St. Olaf (99). Saint Benedict finished third in the conference in overall female honorees with a total of 137, behind St. Olaf (156) and Gustavus Adolphus (149). The Bennies had 39 fall honorees in cross country, soccer and volleyball.

Those honored (listed alphabetically) include:

-Sophomore guard Lauren Arnold (Chanhassen, Minn.), an accounting major with a 3.97 GPA; 
-Junior forward Cora Beeler (Delano, Minn.), a global business leadership major with a 3.96 GPA; 
-Junior wing Ella Beeler (Delano, Minn.), an accounting and theology double-major with a 3.92 GPA; 
-Junior wing Emily Crandall (Sartell, Minn.), a global business leadership major with a 3.97 GPA; 
-Senior wing Megan Driste (Sartell, Minn.), an elementary education major with a 3.78 GPA; 
-Sophomore guard Emily Gates (Lake City, Minn./Lincoln), a biology major with a 3.57 GPA; 
-Sophomore guard Natalie Gates (Lake City, Minn./Lincoln), a finance major with a 3.88 GPA;
-Junior center Kristen Hilbert (Kimball, Minn.), an exercise and health science major with a 3.92 GPA;
-Senior wing Megan Morgan (Winona, Minn./Cotter), an exercise and health science major with a 3.99 GPA;
-Sophomore wing Alyssa Sadlovsky (Pierz, Minn./Pierz Healy), a global business leadership major with a 3.88 GPA; 
-Sophomore forward Lauren Schultz (Pequot Lakes, Minn.), an elementary education major with a 3.88 GPA;
-Senior post Kira Young (Hudson, Wis.), a nursing major with a 3.65 GPA.

Student-athletes must be a sophomore, junior or senior academically with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.50 on a 4.00 scale to qualify for Academic All-MIAC recognition. Transfers, like first-years, must complete a full academic year to be eligible the following season. 

Athletically, student-athletes must be a member of a MIAC-sponsored, varsity team and be academically and athletically eligible. The student-athlete must have utilized a season of participation (per NCAA and MIAC definitions) and have remained on the sports roster through the conclusion of the sports season.

The Academic All-MIAC honor is the third for Driste and Morgan and the second for Cora and Ella Beeler, Hilberg and Young.

Four of the honorees – Arnold, Driste and Young – were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District basketball team March 23.

Morgan earned the CSB Athletics Dr. LuAnn Reif Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor for a after boasting the highest cumulative GPA among junior or senior student-athletes with the most credit hours completed. 

CSB tied for sixth in the MIAC with an 11-7 record (16-9 overall), the fifth season in a row the Bennies have eclipsed 15 wins.