Eastern Washington University junior women's soccer player Kelsee Winston and sixth-year senior football player Spencer Blackburn have been selected as the Scholar-Athletes of the Month as selected by the EWU athletic department for their performances in October.
 
Winston is from Pasco, Wash., and graduated from Hanford High School, and is a criminal justice major with a 3.75 grade point average. Blackburn graduated in 2014 from Meridian High School in Bellingham, Wash., and has a 3.69 GPA as a double major in professional accounting and economics. He's already completed requirements toward his economics degree and will finish his accounting degree this fall.
 
Kelsee Winston helped the Eagles finish 6-2 during the month of October and qualify for their sixth-straight Big Sky Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed. The junior spent 720:00 minutes between the posts, making 29 saves on 65 shots faced and only allowing four goals. She totaled a goals against average of .50 and a save percentage of .879.
 
Winston recorded four-straight shutouts during the month, helping set a new program record for consecutive shutouts during a season with wins over Idaho State (3-0), Weber State (1-0), Southern Utah (3-0) and Northern Arizona (2-0).
 
Individually, Winston garnered the 13th shutout of her career, setting an Eastern Washington program record for career shutouts. After shutting out Idaho State and Weber State on the road, Winston earned the third Big Sky Player of the Week award of her career.
 
On Oct. 30, Blackburn was selected to the 2019 National Football Foundation (NFF) National Scholar-Athlete Class and is one of 12 finalists nationally for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda. The Campbell Trophy annually recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership. The winner of the award will be announced on Dec. 10.
 
Blackburn ended October with a streak of 45 consecutive starts since taking over the center position in the fourth game of the 2016 season. He's earned second-team All-Big Sky honors in each of the last three seasons, and earned NCAA Football Championship Subdivision All-America honors a year ago.
 
Blackburn was a team co-captain in both 2019 and 2018, and was named a year ago to the Google Cloud Academic All-District 8 Football Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He has also earned three Big Sky All-Academic honors, and has a 3.69 grade point average. He was the 2017 recipient of the Larry Hattemer Offensive Lineman Scholarship.
 
Last summer, Blackburn was one of just 28 players nationally to be honored on the Athlon 2019 Preseason NCAA Football Championship Subdivision All-America Team.  It was one of four preseason All-America honors Blackburn earned in the summer, as he also earned second team preseason All-America honors from STATS, Hero Sports and Phil Steele.  
 
Blackburn is a sixth-year senior in 2019 after he received approval from the Big Sky Conference and the NCAA for their hardship waiver requests to receive a sixth year to complete four years of eligibility.  He redshirted in 2014, but couldn't play in 2015 because of a thumb injury. In 2018 he earned NCAA Football Championship Subdivision All-America honors by Associated Press (second team) and STATS (third team).
 

2019-20 EWU Athletics Scholar-Athletes of the Month
October – Kelsee Winston (soccer), Spencer Blackburn (football)
September – Madalyn Ardueser (golf), Jayson Williams (football)

2018-19 EWU Athletics Scholar-Athletes of the Month
September – Alexa Clark (golf), Gage Gubrud (football)
October – Jenny Chavez (soccer), Roldan Alcobendas (football)
November – Kahle Elliott (volleyball), Mitch Fettig (football)
December – Alissa Sealby (basketball), Sam McPherson (football)
January – Violet Kapri Morrow (basketball), Mason Peatling (basketball)
February – Grace Kirscher (basketball), Jesse Hunt (basketball)
March – Jessica McDowell-White (basketball), Kim Aiken Jr. (basketball)
April – Rylee Braeden (women's tennis), Isaac Barville (men's track & field)
May – Madison Doepker (women's track & field), Jeremy Field (men's tennis)