EUGENE, Ore. – Arizona State’s CJ Albertson and Keyasia Tibbs have been named the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Scholar-Athletes of the Year, the Conference office announced at the start of the 2017 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships. The award, which is presented in each of the 23 sports the Conference sponsors, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes that are standouts both academically and in their sports discipline.
Albertson, a distance runner from Clovis, Calif., posted a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in completing his undergraduate degree in exercise & wellness in just three years and now carries a 3.86 GPA while completing his master’s in physical education. He has appeared on both the Pac-12 and USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams in each of the past two years.
On the track, Albertson’s 3,000-meter steeplechase time of 8:48.24 is the third-best in the Pac-12 and 10th-fastest in the country so far this season after competing in his first-ever NCAA outdoor championships in the event last summer. He is in ASU’s all-time top 10 in four different events, including a school-record in the indoor 5,000-meter earlier this year as well as high outdoor marks in the mile and steeplechase.
Tibbs, a jumps specialist at ASU and former valedictorian at Tri-Cities High in Atlanta, has maintained a perfect 4.00 grade-point average majoring in arts with a concentration in fashion design. A three-time USTFCCCA All-Academic Team and two-time Pac-12 All-Academic Team honoree, Tibbs was an NCAA Second Team All-American and Pac-12 runner-up in the triple jump in 2016 and currently owns the fourth-best mark (42′-0.75″/12.82m) in the Conference this spring. She holds school records in the indoor (13.16m) and outdoor (13.10m) triple jump as the only female to clear 13 meters in Sun Devils program history.
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% of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum of 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 athletic accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in the voting for the award.
Also nominated:
MEN’S SCHOLAR-ATHLETE: Aaron Castle, Arizona; Thomas Joyce, California; Cody Danielson, Oregon; Charles Kerr, Stanford; Lucas Strong, Washington; Matthew Swanson, Washington State
WOMEN’S SCHOLAR-ATHLETE: Sage Watson, Arizona; Maggie Schmaedick, Oregon; Allison Jackson, Oregon State; Malika Waschmann, Stanford; Torie Owers, UCLA; Cameron Pettigrew, USC; Katie Knight, Washington
