Boulder, COLO. – Colorado’s Hunter Appleton and Oregon State’s Anneke Moersdorf were named the 2024 Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Scholar-Athletes of the Year, the Conference office announced during the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships in Boulder. The awards, which are presented in each of the 24 sports sponsored by the Pac-12, were established to honor collegiate student-athletes who are standouts both academically and in their sports discipline.

It’s the first-career Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for Appleton and third for Colorado’s track & field program; the graduate student from New Orleans joins Kaitlyn Benner (2019) and Ben Saarel (2018) as previous Buffs to earn the honor. Appleton has toed the line in six meets for the Buffs across the 2024 outdoor and indoor seasons, including a lifetime-best performance in the mile (4:14.54) at the Colorado Invitational back in February. He most recently competed in the 5000m at the Bryan Clay Invite in April, finishing 18th overall with a time of 14:09.49. Appleton scored for the Buffs with a seventh-place finish in the 5k at the 2023 Pac-12 Track && Field Championships.

Appleton is completing his master’s in Organizational Leadership at Colorado and boasts a 3.93 GPA in his graduate program. He also maintained a 3.96 undergraduate GPA while at CU.

Moersdorf similarly earns her first-career Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and becomes the first-ever Oregon State track & field student-athlete to secure the acclaim. The senior from San Luis Obisbo, Calif., is the OSU program record-holder in the triple jump (indoor & outdoor) long jump (outdoor), 4x400m relay (outdoor), and heptathlon. Moersdorf is currently competing in the hep at the 2024 Pac-12 Championships, finishing fifth in the event in 2023.

Moersdorf maintains an impressive 3.98 GPA as she completes her Kinesiology degree at Oregon State, additionally studying Pre-Therapy and Allied Health in her program. She has been named to the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll on six occasions.

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.

For a complete list of past Pac-12 Scholar-Athletes of the Year, see here. 

ALSO NOMINATED

• Men – Johnnie Blockburger USC; Luke Houser, WASH; Simbarashe Maketa, ASU; Jared McAlvey; Ivan Moisander, CAL; Jared O’Riley, ARIZ
• Women – Ava David, ARIZ; Josefine Eriksen, UTAH; Abbey Glynn, COLO; Kiara Lee, ASU; Jasmine Jones, USC; Jasneet Nijjar, WSU; Marlena Preigh, WASH; Amari Turner, CAL