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Jan. 23, 2008

St. Louis - University of Northern Iowa senior Kristin Belzung has been honored as a recipient of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Good Neighbor Award, the league announced Wednesday.

In an effort to honor model student-athletes, the Missouri Valley Conference has partnered with State Farm Insurance in creating the MVC Good Neighbor Award. Ten student-athletes have been named by MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin as the honorees for this past fall.

Along with Belzung, the honorees include Todd Reedy of Bradley, Kari Tanimoto of Creighton, Lauren Hoguta of Drake, Daniel Gibson of Evansville, Luke Drone of Illinois State, Shae Fehribach of Indiana State, Carrie Vestal of Missouri State, Erika Bartruff of Southern Illinois, and Sara Lungren of Wichita State.

In order to be eligible for the award, the student-athlete must be in good academic standing, must demonstrate good citizenship through good sportsmanship and significant community service, and must participate in a sport, during the season of recognition. The Valley will recognize 10 student-athletes three times annually (fall, winter, spring), for a total of 30 honorees. Institutions select their Good Neighbor Award honorees.

Belzung, a senior member of the UNI volleyball team, boasts a 3.54 GPA and was listed on the Dean's List six of her nine semesters at UNI, along with being named to the MVC 1st team All-Academic team. She is a member of the MVC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was also a NCAA National Leadership Conference participant. Belzung has a long list of community service and volunteer duties including helping with the Little Panther Club volleyball clinics for elementary children, a volunteer at the Special Olympics National Games in the summer of 2006, a Girl Scout clinic counselor from 2005-2007, Northeast Iowa Food Bank volunteer in the summer of 2007 and also served as a junior volleyball club coach from 2004-2007.