Three Tulsa Cross Country/Track Athletes Receive AAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Awards
7/19/2023 10:10:00 AM | Cross Country, Track and Field
IRVING, Texas –– The American Athletic Conference today announced the league's Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipients for the 2022-23 academic year and three cross country/track & field student-athletes won for their respective 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.
The American's Cross Country Individual champion Isaac Akers was named 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 and Cormac Dalton received the honor for men's outdoor track & field,
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 this year, 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.
The men's outdoor track & field recipient, Dalton has maintained a 3.83 GPA in business administration. He is Tulsa's third recipient for outdoor track in the past four years.
He 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.
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 top-12 performance at the conference meet.
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