PAC-12 SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

Stanford's Caitie Baird has been named the Pac-12 Women’s Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2023 season, announced by the Conference today. Presented to one athlete in each of the 24 Pac-12 sponsored sports, the award was established to highlight collegiate student athletes that go above and beyond in both academics and their respective sports. 

Baird, an outside hitter from Indianapolis, Ind., has been a standout in both the classroom and on the court for the Cardinal. The redshirt senior already completed her undergraduate degree in human biology with a 3.80 grade-point-average and is working towards her master's in communications and media studies, where she currently holds a 3.89 grade-point average. 

She has received numerous accolades for her academic accomplishments, including being named a College Sports Communications (CSC) Academic All-America First Team selection in 2022, a two-time CSC Academic All-District honoree (2021, 2022) and a three-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll award winner (2020, 2021, 2022). 

Baird was also honored in June as a NIL Summit Scholar-Athlete of the Year (2023) as part of the inaugural NIL Awards, which recognized exceptional achievement by student-athletes, brands and institutions during the first year of name, image and likeness.

Baird has been instrumental to Stanford's run of success during her career, helping the Cardinal to back-to-back Pac-12 Championships and a top-four national seed in the NCAA Tournament each of the last two seasons. She earned her fourth All-Pac-12 honor this week, becoming just one of 28 Pac-12 women's volleyball student-athletes all-time to garner the award four times during a career. 

The senior was named an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Second Team selection in 2021, is a two-time AVCA All-Pacific North Region honoree (2021, 2022) and was named to the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team in 2020. She has also picked up four Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week awards during her career, including one this fall on Oct. 9.

Baird is Stanford's seventh Pac-12 Women’s Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and fourth in the last five years, following Holly Campbell (2021), Meghan McClure (2020), Morgan Hentz (2019) and Tami Alade (2018).

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 is named in each of the Pac-12’s 24 sponsored sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, beach volleyball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, 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: Skylar Fields, USC; Lexi Hadrych, COLO; Jaelyn Hodge, ARIZ; Morgan Lewis, ORE; Maddie McLaughlin, ASU; Iman Ndiaye, UCLA; Morgan Riddle, COLO; Emily Smith, UTAH; Maya Tabron, COLO; Sam Taumoepeau, CAL.