General | May 29, 2019
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Western Michigan gymnastics' Rachael Underwood and men's basketball's Seth Dugan received the Mid-American Conference Medal of Excellence Award at the MAC Honors Dinner Ceremony at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel on Wednesday night.
The Medal of Excellence is an award presented annually to one male and one female student-athlete from the graduating class of each of the 12 Conference member institutions.
"The Medal of Excellence Award is a reinforcement of core values that we as a conference and each of our member institutions all possess with excellence in academics, leadership and service," said MAC Commissioner Jon A. Steinbrecher. "We congratulate all of our Medal of Excellence Award Winners."
To be honored with the Medal of Excellence Award, student-athletes had to participate on the varsity level in a conference sponsored sport and shown evidence of academic success with a minimum 3.50 cumulative grade-point average, exhibited athletics excellence, leadership and service. Selection of the recipients was made by each MAC institution.
Underwood wrapped up her career at Western Michigan leaving a big impact on the gymnastics program. She boasts a 3.96 GPA in occupational therapy and was a three-time Academic All-MAC selection. Underwood was a four-time NCAA Regional Qualifier in the all-around and left WMU with a program record score of 39.350. The Cary, Ill., native was named Second Team All-MAC this past season and earned the MAC Senior Gymnast of the Year award after finishing in second place in the all-around at the MAC Championships.
Dugan finished his career at WMU as the first men's basketball player since 2007 to be named a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American. He holds a 3.97 GPA in finance and was a three-time Academic All-MAC selection, with two MAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete honors. He was named Third Team All-MAC during his senior season, in which he averaged 16.6 points per game and 9.9 rebounds per game, while tying the program record for double-doubles in a season with 16.
