SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Citadel track and field cadet-athlete Mady Riegel has been named the recipient of the Southern Conference's David Knight Scholarship. Riegel and the other nine postgraduate scholarship recipients from across the conference will be honored for their accomplishments at the Southern Conference Honors Dinner in Hilton Head Island, S.C. on Tuesday, May 29.
The recipients are nominated by their schools and selected by the Southern Conference Graduate Scholar Committee. The scholarships, worth $2,000 each, are awarded to student-athletes about to receive their undergraduate degrees who intend to pursue advanced degrees in graduate or professional school. The student-athletes are evaluated on academics, athletics and community service.
Riegel, a senior from Schuykill Haven, Pennsylvania, has competed for both the Bulldogs' women's soccer and track and field teams, earning SoCon All-Freshman honors in both in 2014-15 before becoming a two-time SoCon champion in the javelin, setting and then breaking the school record in the event each year of her career so far.
She is a two-time winner of The Citadel's Outstanding Field Performer Award and was named the track and field team's MVP last season as a junior. Riegel made program history in 2017 when she became the first Bulldog to advance to the finals in any event at the prestigious Penn Relays, finishing seventh in the javelin.
The biology major owns a 3.87 GPA and intends to enter medical school to study forensic pathology. A member of The Citadel's Honors Program, Riegel has achieved Gold Stars six semesters, which requires at least a 3.7 GPA, and was inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society in October.
In her community, Riegel volunteered with the Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's from 2014-16, with Low Country Orphanage Relief's Leadership Day and with the City of Charleston Police Department's Police Community Unity Day. She has also assisted teaching javelin technique at Blue Mountain High School and Pine Grove High School. Riegel, who is currently volunteering at the Medical University of South Carolina's neurosurgery research lab, has also taken on leadership roles in the Corps of Cadets as a cadet corporal, a cadet sergeant and as a senior mentor in her company.
This year's honorees include: Dave Hart Scholarship recipient Brandon Barbery (VMI); Dorothy Hicks Scholarship recipient Katherine Beuerlein (Wofford); Insurance Office of America Scholarship recipient Macy Carrier (ETSU); David Knight Scholarship recipient Madyson Riegel (The Citadel); Bob McCloskey Insurance Scholarship recipients Hunter Wike (ETSU) and Meghan Rud (Mercer); William V. Moore Scholarship presented by McMillan Pazdan Smith recipient Ellie Gerlach (Samford); Milliken & Co. Scholarship recipient Megan Woods (Chattanooga); Sports Medicine Institute Scholarship presented by Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System recipient Kassandra Flores (Western Carolina); and Southern Conference Presidential Scholarship recipient Brittany Houston (Furman).
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