Contact: Chassidy Holloway, Associate Executive Director, holloway@midwestconference.org
 
GRINNELL, Iowa – The Midwest Conference (MWC) announced today its Ruth Peterson and Roy W. LeClere award honorees for the 2022-2023 academic year. Awarded annually, the Ruth Peterson and Roy W. LeClere awards are presented to the female and male scholar-athlete who achieved the highest grade-point average during their junior years. 
 
Lake Forest senior women’s soccer player Paityn Tabor is the recipient of the Ruth Peterson Award, while Beloit College senior men’s soccer and track & field athlete Brandon Joly is the recipient of the Roy W. LeClere Award.
 
Tabor is a journalism (self-designed) and Spanish double-major from Cleveland, Ohio, and has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average throughout her collegiate career. She was named Academic All-MWC each year the award was presented and twice received the league's Elite 20 Award for owning the highest cumulative GPA of any player at the four-team MWC Tournament. Tabor was also announced as a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® honoree yesterday.

A four-year member of the women's soccer team, Tabor has helped lead Lake Forest to a 34-18-8 overall record and 18-4-3 mark in MWC play over that span. The midfielder scored a pair of goals and added an assist in 2022, bringing her career totals to 14 points on six goals and two assists.

Tabor is just the second Forester to earn the Peterson Award, joining softball player Kat Beall, who was recognized five years ago.

Joly is a double major in mathematics, education, youth studies and Spanish language & culture from Seymour, Wisconsin. With a 4.0 grade point average, Joly is a 6-time Academic All-MWC honoree, including once for men’s soccer, two for indoor track & field, and three for outdoor track & field. Joly also the 2022 recipient of the Elite 20 Award for men’s outdoor track & field.

In two seasons as a men’s soccer player, Joly appeared in 29 games for the Bucs, posting one goal and two assists. At the 2022 outdoor track & field championship meet, Joly anchored the third-place men’s 4x100 relay and came off the blocks second in the runner-up men’s 4x400 meter relay. Joly also competed in the men’s 200m and 400m dash.

Joly is the second Bucaneer to receive the LeClere Award, joining Josh Rosen who received the honor in 1994-95. 

Ruth Peterson is the former Commissioner of the Midwest Athletics Conference for Women, who went on to serve as the Co-Commissioner of the MWC. Peterson was a Beloit College alum and employee who passed away in October of 2006. Roy W. LeClere was a collegiate sports enthusiast whose passion for the MWC led friends and co-workers to originally sponsor the award as a memorial in his honor.