PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced that University of Houston diving standout Micaela Bouter has been named the 2016-17 American Athletic Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The selection was made by the Conference’s Academic Affairs Committee.
Bouter, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, will receive a $4,000 scholarship to apply to her postgraduate or professional studies. She is the second winner from Houston in the last three years, joining former volleyball standout Kadi Kullerkann, who won in 2015. The conference also announced the female winners of the 2016-17 American Athletic Conference Institutional Scholar-Athlete Scholarships. Each institutional winner receives a $2,000 scholarship.
A two-time American Athletic Conference individual champion, Bouter was named the Most Outstanding Diver at the 2017 American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championship after she helped the Cougars to their first conference title in program history. Bouter won her second straight individual championship in three-meter diving in 2017, while she finished as the runner-up in platform diving and took fourth in one-meter diving.
Bouter was chosen as The American’s Diver of the Week three times in 2017 and nine times in her career. She registered 12 event wins in 2016-17.
Bouter holds a 3.71 grade-point average and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in medicine and society. She is enrolled in Houston’s Honors College, active with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and volunteers at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center
The American Athletic Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is one of a number of scholarships presented by the conference during the 2016-17 academic year. One male and one female from each of the conference’s 11 member institutions may be named as the winners of the conference’s Institutional Scholar-Athlete Scholarships. The conference also names male and female Basketball Scholar-Athletes of the Year and a Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
2016-17 American Athletic Conference Institutional Female Scholar-Athlete Awards
Faculty Athletic Representatives at each American Athletic Conference institution, in consultation with the Director of Athletics and appropriate athletic academic advisors, may annually nominate one female candidate for an Institutional Scholar-Athlete Scholarship. All nominees must have maintained both excellent academic credentials (minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.00) and outstanding athletic performance; must have competed in an American Athletic Conference-sponsored sport; and must have attained a minimum of senior standing, as determined by the respective institution.
| School |
Name |
Sport(s) |
Major |
| UCF |
Taylor Wickey |
Volleyball |
Hospitality and Tourism Management |
| Cincinnati |
Juliana Madzia |
Cross Country |
Neuroscience |
| UConn |
Shea Flanagan |
Tennis |
Political Science |
| East Carolina |
Lydia Ritchie |
Softball |
Recreational Therapy |
| Houston |
Micaela Bouter |
Swimming & Diving |
Biology |
| Memphis |
Martina Rodriguez Sala |
Cross Country |
Biology and Physics |
| USF |
Sophia Brown |
Track & Field |
Physical Education-Exercise Science |
| SMU |
Katie Hegarty |
Volleyball |
Computer Science |
| Temple |
Kirsten Overton |
Volleyball |
Media Studies Production |
| Tulane |
Daliadiz Ortiz |
Track & Field |
Business |
| Tulsa |
Clara Langley |
Cross Country |
Philosophy |
American Athletic Conference Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year
2013-14 Nicole Scott, Swimming & Diving, Rutgers
2014-15 Kadi Kullerkann, Volleyball, Houston
2015-16 Avery Acker, Volleyball, SMU
2016-17 Micaela Bouter, Swimming & Diving, Houston