The American Athletic Conference has announced the league’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipients for the 2021-22 academic year, and The University of Tulsa had five student-athletes named AAC scholar-athlete honorees. It marks the third consecutive year that Tulsa has had at least four AAC scholar-athlete award winners. Four 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, received a $2,000 scholarship. In the eight-year history of Tulsa’s membership in The American, a total of 25 Golden Hurricane student-athletes have now been recognized as their particular sports’ recipient of the scholar-athlete of the year award.
The league’s Cross-Country Male Runner of the Year Scott Beattie was named scholar-athlete award winner for men’s cross country. Caroline Miller earned the women’s cross-country scholar-athlete of the year award; Katharina Pesendorfer was the women’s indoor track & field recipient; and, Henry Visser received the honor for men’s outdoor track & field after winning the award for indoor track a year ago. Kody Pearson was selected as the scholar-athlete of the year for men’s tennis.
Beattie, a native of Newcastle, England, was the individual champion at the 2021 American Athletic Conference Championship with a 10K time of 29:45.2, while helping lead Tulsa to a sixth-place performance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Beattie maintained a 4.0 grade-point average as a graduate student in accounting.
A native of Dallas, Miller has maintained a 3.64 GPA in nursing, while earning AAC academic team honors three times. She earned all-conference accolades for three years and placed fourth at the AAC Cross Country Championships last fall in leading Tulsa to its third straight league title.
Pesendorfer possessed a 3.88 GPA in management and earned academic all-conference honors for three seasons. The native of Austria was an eight-time all-conference performer, including five times in track & field and three times in cross country. Pesendorfer won the 2022 AAC Indoor title for the 3,000 meters and was a member of the third-place distance medley relay team. She also placed second in both the 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m run at the AAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships in May.
A year ago, Visser was named the scholar-athlete recipient for men’s indoor track & field and this year was selected as the winner for outdoor track. Visser earned a 4.0 GPA in economics each semester and was a four-time AAC all-academic selection. Visser, a native of Bocholt, Germany, was a six-time all-conference selection for track & field and had four first-place performances in the 400m hurdles during the 2022 outdoor season. He set a school record at The American Championships in the 400m hurdles with a second-place time of 51.48.
Pearson, The American’s Male Tennis Athlete of the Year, was selected as the sport of tennis’ scholar-athlete of the year. A two-time all-conference selection, he posted an overall 16-7 record, including 5-4 against nationally ranked opponents, and represented Tulsa at the NCAA Singles Championship the past two seasons. A native of Sydney, Australia, Pearson has maintained a 3.97 GPA in psychology.