Five Tulsa Student-Athletes Receive 2023 AAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Awards
7/19/2023 10:05:00 AM | Tulsa Hurricane, Academics
IRVING, Texas –– The American Athletic Conference announced the league's Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipients, one per sport, for the 2022-23 academic year today.
The University of Tulsa had five student-athletes named as AAC scholar-athlete honorees. It marks the fourth consecutive year that Tulsa has had at least four AAC scholar-athlete award winners. Three of Tulsa's five scholar-athlete award winners this year came in running sports.
Each of the scholar-athlete award winners, as selected by the league's Faculty Athletic Representatives, will receive a post-graduate and post-eligibility scholarship of $2,000 and a trophy.
In the nine-year history of Tulsa's membership in The American, a total of 30 Golden Hurricane student-athletes have now been recognized as their particular sports' recipient of the scholar-athlete of the year award.
The American's Cross Country Individual champion Isaac Akers was named the scholar-athlete award winner for the sport of men's cross country, Katharina Pesendorfer earned the women's cross country scholar-athlete of the year award, Cormac Dalton received the honor for men's outdoor track & field, Lilly Thomas was the women's golf recipient and Karen Undset won the award for rowing.
Isaac Akers, a native of Market Harborough, England, was the individual champion at the 2022 American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championship with an 8K time of 23:51.7, while helping lead Tulsa to its ninth straight AAC title. Akers earned his fourth all-conference award in cross country, while placing fifth at the NCAA Midwest Regional and 44th at the NCAA national meet.
Akers maintained a 3.38 GPA as a graduate student in business administration. It marked the third straight season and fourth time in six years of the award that a Tulsa athlete won the cross country honor.
Cormac Dalton, the men's outdoor track & field recipient, has maintained a 3.83 GPA while earning his master's degree in business administration. He is Tulsa's third recipient for outdoor track in the past four years.
Dalton set a new career-best and school record in winning the 5,000m at the AAC Championship with a time of 13:40.06. A native of Mullingar, Ireland, Dalton was a four-time all-conference selection in track & field and twice in cross country. He was also named AAC Runner of the Year in the fall of 2022 and was a two-time Cross Country All-American.
Katharina Pesendorfer's selection as the women's cross country scholar-athlete recipient is the fifth consecutive season that a Tulsa runner captured the honor. She has maintained a 3.88 GPA as a graduate student in business administration.
The native of Austria is a 10-time all-conference performer in cross country and track & field and a four-time academic all-conference honoree. Pesendorfer won the 2022 AAC indoor title for the 3,000 meters and was also a member of the third-place distance medley relay team. She finished in fourth place at the AAC Cross Country Championship for her fourth career top-12 performance at the conference meet.
Lilly Thomas, from Bentonville, Ark., has maintained a 3.64 GPA in accounting. She led her team to the programs first NCAA Championship for the first time in 15 years.
Thomas was named all-conference in 2022-23 for the third straight season, while posting an overall 72.5 stroke average in 32 rounds with eight top-20 finishes, including seven times among the top-12. She won her first career tournament this season with a 2-stroke victory at The Bruzzy in the spring season.
Karen Undset, a native of Stavenger, Norway, is the second Tulsa rower to win the honor in the six years of the award. A five-time AAC all-academic team selection, Undset also earned Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar Athlete honors as a sophomore, junior and senior.
She has maintained a 3.91 GPA in physics.
At the 2023 American Athletic Conference Championship, Undset led her boat to a Silver medal in the Varsity 8+. Her Varsity 8+ boat also had a Gold medal finish at the 2023 Sunshine State Invitational, thus earning the AAC Boat of the Week for that performance.
2022-23 Tulsa's AAC Scholar-Athlete Award Winners
Isaac Akers, men's cross country
Cormac Dalton, men's outdoor track & field
Katharina Pesendorfer, women's cross country
Lilly Thomas, women's golf
Karen Undset, women's rowing
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