INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Soleil Edwards became the first student-athlete in Embry-Riddle history to win the NCAA's Elite 90 award in 2025, and has repeated that feat after being recognized as the winner of the newly named 2026 Elite Scholar-Athlete Award for Division II women's rowing. Edwards is now one of only four athletes in the history of the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) to win the award twice, and is one of two women's rower's in SSC history to receive the award. 

The Elite Scholar-Athlete Award recognizes student-athletes achieving at the highest level in both their sport and the classroom. It is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships. To be eligible, student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and in their second year of competition at their current institution in any sport. Only undergraduate GPA is considered. 

For Edwards, she graduated this past month with a perfect 4.0 GPA while earning a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. She will be working as a Radio Frequency intern for Lockheed Martin this summer before she begins to work towards a Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

On the water this season, Edwards was a consistent piece of the Varsity Eight boat which won the SSC Championship and recently finished fourth at the NCAA Division II Championships. The V8+ was named the SSC Boat of the Week on four occasions this season, with the Melbourne Beach, native a part of the boat on each occasion. She finishes her career with the Blue and Gold as a national champion (2025), two-time All-American (2024-25), three-time conference champion (2023-25), and a member of back-to-back SSC Boats of the Year (2023-24).