COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's University junior Carter Grove (Osakis, Minn.) is the recipient of the Elite 90 award for the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

A computer science major with a 4.0 GPA, Grove was presented with the honor during the awards banquet held Wednesday night (May 24) in Rochester, N.Y. SJU begins the three-day NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships today (May 25) at St. John Fisher's Polisseni Complex.

The Elite 90, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships.

Grove is the fifth Johnnie to achieve the distinction, joining rising senior Nate Loxtercamp (2022), Preston Kopel '21 (2019) and Mack Farley '17 (2017) in golf, and Chris Sandy '11 in wrestling (2011).

The award's current criteria states that eligible student-athletes are sophomores or above academically who have participated in a sport for at least two years with their school. All ties are broken by the number of credits completed.

Grove earned the MIAC Elite 22 Award in both indoor and outdoor track and field in 2023. Modeled after the NCAA Elite 90, the MIAC Elite 22 Award for track and field is presented to the individual with the highest GPA among the student-athletes who achieved All-MIAC honors (top three) at the MIAC Championships. He finished second with a time of 8:59.39, which was good for 11th in NCAA Division III, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase May 13 as SJU won its second-consecutive MIAC outdoor team title. 

The steeplechase prelims are scheduled for 7:35 p.m. ET tonight (Thursday, May 25) and consist of two heats of 11 participants each. The two heats' top-four runners, plus the next-best four times, qualify for the final at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday. He is the Johnnies' 18th national entrant in the event since 1980 and first since Ryan Bugler '17 in 2017. Bugler won the national title in 2016, as well as Jim Gathje '86 in 1985 and 1986.

Two other Johnnies, senior sprinter Kevin Arthur (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) and senior thrower Brett Hague (Brainerd, Minn.), are scheduled to join Grove at the national meet. The appearance at nationals is the second in a row for Hague, who earned All-America honors with a fourth-place finish (65.06 meters) in 2022. The javelin is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET today.

Arthur, meanwhile, qualified and competed in the 100-meter dash and as a member of SJU's 4x100-meter relay each of the past two seasons and will make his third-straight appearance in two events. The 200-meter dash prelims are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET tonight and the 100-meter dash prelims are at 6 p.m. ET Friday. The winner from each of the three heats, plus the next best five times, qualify for Saturday's finals, 2:30 p.m. ET for the 100 and 3:40 p.m. ET for the 200.