The Center for Healthful Living (CHL) has recognized sophomores Virat Vishwanadhula and Madeleine Lepley of the men’s and women’s cross country teams as the December Student-Athletes of the Month. This award recognizes a student athlete's commitment to the CHL's motto: Educate the Mind and Exercise the Body.
Vishwanadhula, from West Windsor, New Jersey, only spent one year on the Emory Oxford cross country team, but made a huge impact in that short time. He was named Runner of the Year after a first place finish at the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association Regional Championship in October. He led the men’s team to a second-straight first place finish. In addition, he made the All-Region team. Less than a month later, Vishwanadhula finished 11th with his best time at the NJCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. He was named an all-american and helped the team to a history-making fifth place finish. The men’s team had never finished higher than 10th at nationals.
Outside of cross country, Vishwanadhula keeps active at both the Oxford and Atlanta Emory campuses. At Oxford, he is part of the Oxford Investment Management Group as an analyst and a general body member of the Student Activities Committee. In Atlanta, he is part of Consult Your Community as a consulting analyst. Consult Your Community provides pro bono consulting services to minorities and women-owned small businesses. When at home in New Jersey, Vishwanadhula volunteers with his local fire company, as he is a professionally certified firefighter in the state.
Academically, he is a Dean’s List Scholar and plans on majoring in business administration and quantitative sciences.
Lepley is from Lexington, Kentucky, and is in her second year as a member of the cross country team. She was part of the team that won the regional championships in 2022 (where she placed sixth overall) and finished third at nationals. This season, Lepley was a member of the all-region team after her second place finish at regionals. At nationals, she ran her best time of the season and finished 20th overall.
When she’s not running for cross country, Lepley stays busy on campus. She is a residential assistant, a Healthy Eagle and regularly volunteers with Volunteer Oxford. With Volunteer Oxford, she does a variety of service activities including helping children learn to read at a local community center, volunteering at the city of Oxford’s Fall Festival, and painting ornaments for a homeless shelter. Lepley is also the co-president of the Oxford Cancer Foundation and does lab research in Dr. LaTonia Taliaferro-Smith’s breast cancer research class. On the Atlanta campus, Lepley is part of Emory Global Medical training, a club that does medical volunteering trips to Latin America.
Lepley plans on majoring in human health and was a member of the NJCAA All-Academic Second Team last year. In addition, she was a Dean’s List Scholar last fall and this fall. Lepley is a Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society member and a Brad Edwards Scholar.
We proudly recognize the December Student-Athletes of the Month, Virat Vishwanadhula and Madeleine Lepley.