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PULLMAN, Wash. -- ARIZONA’s Lawi Lalang and OREGON’s Laura Roesler were named the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Scholar-Athletes of the Year, the Conference office announced on Saturday at the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Championships. The award, which is presented in each of the 22 sports the Conference sponsors, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes that are standouts both academically and in their sports discipline.

Lawi Lalang (Eldoret, Kenya) has won a combined seven NCAA individual titles since arriving in Tucson, including the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter titles at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He was a finalist for the Bowerman Award last season as well, the Heisman Trophy of track & field. Lalang goes into this weekend’s Pac-12 Track & Field Championships defending his back-to-back 1,500-meter titles. Last year, he also won the league 10,000 meter crown and claimed the 5,000-meter in 2011. Lalang has also seen success in cross country, winning the 2011 NCAA titles and twice winning the Pac-12 title in cross country (2011 and 2012). Lalang owns the Conference’s all-time record in the 5,000 meter, clocking a time of 13:00.95 last year, breaking a record that had stood since 1981.

Lalang boasts a 3.42 grade point average in public health. He was named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches (USTFCCCA) Academic All-America team in 2013.

Laura Roesler (Fargo, N.D.) is the most decorated student-athlete in Oregon history having earned 15-career All-American awards and four NCAA Championships. The 2014 NCAA Champion in the 800 meter indoor championships, she is the two-time defending Pac-12 800-meter outdoor champion and has the top time in the NCAA this year in the event. Last year, she recorded the fifth-fastest time in league history, and was also on Oregon’s 4x400-meter relay squad that posted the Conference’s best time ever in the event in 2012.

Roesler has a 3.54 grade point average in community education. She was a honorable mention Academic All-Pac-12 as a junior and sophomore.

In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50 percent of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletics accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in voting for the award.

A Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be named in each of the Pac-12’s 22 sponsored sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, men’s rowing, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, women’s volleyball, and wrestling. The award was first established during the 2008-09 academic year.

Also nominated:

WOMEN - Tamara Pridgett, ARIZ; Nicole Larson, CAL; Shalaya Kipp, COLO; Taylor Nowlin, OSU; Elli McCardell, STAN; Natasha Kolbo, UCLA; Thea Weiss, USC; Rosalie Waller, UTAH; Kayla Stueckle, WASH; Ruby Roberts, WSU.

MEN - Garrett Baker-Slama, ASU; Marco Bertolotti, STAN; Michael Perry, UCLA; A.J. Maricich, WASH.