OVC honors Southeast Missouri State with sportsmanship award

Southeast Missouri State earned the Ohio Valley Conference's annual Institutional Sportsmanship Award presented Friday at the league's annual honors luncheon in Nashville, Tenn.

The award goes to the conference institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical conduct as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.

"Without sportsmanship there are truly no meaningful victories," OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche said in a release. "In receiving this prestigious honor, other institutions are saying these teams and student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life."

This year marks the eighth time the Institutional Sportsmanship Award has been given out and the second time Southeast has won it. Southeast claimed the inaugural award in 2003-04.