IRVING, Texas – Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced that former East Carolina baseball player Alec Burleson and Tulsa cross country standout Caitlin Klopfer have been chosen as the 2019-20 American Athletic Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year, as chosen by the conference's faculty athletics representatives.
 
Burleson, who was chosen as The American's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Klopfer, The American's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, will each receive a $4,000 postgraduate financial scholarship.
 
Burleson and Klopfer were chosen from a group of 24 individual sport Scholar-Athletes of the Year who received $2,000 postgraduate scholarships.
 
Burleson was chosen as a first team All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball and was tabbed as a first team CoSIDA Academic All-America selection after the shortened 2020 season. He was the preseason choice as The American's Player of the Year after he was chosen to five All-America teams in 2019. Burleson was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
 
Burleson, who graduated from East Carolina with a 3.95 grade-point average as a management major, becomes the second consecutive ECU baseball player to be named as The American's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, following former teammate Jake Agnos, who was chosen in 2019.
 
Klopfer earned American Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors after she placed third at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championship, leading the Golden Hurricane to the team title. She went to take a team-best fifth individually at the 2019 NCAA Midwest Region Championship and was the team's top individual as Tulsa scored a program-best 25th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
 
Klopfer graduated from Tulsa with a 3.948 grade-point average as a chemical engineering major. She is the first Tulsa student-athlete to be chosen as The American's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
 
Selections for the Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards are made by the faculty athletic representatives on the basis of academic credentials and athletic performance. Each conference school may nominate one student-athlete who has achieved senior academic standing as determined by the institution. A winner is chosen from each of the conference's 22 sponsored sports in addition to men's and women's at-large selections from sports not sponsored by the conference. 
 
The complete list of 2019-20 and historical Scholar-Athletes of the Year are on the following pages. The list of 24 individual sport Scholar-Athletes of the Year includes nine student-athletes who were named to an All-America team.


2020 American Athletic Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Alec Burleson (Baseball)
 
2020 American Athletic Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Caitlin Klopfer, Tulsa (Cross Country)
 
2020 American Athletic Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year

Sport	Student-Athlete	School	Highlights
Baseball	Alec Burleson	East Carolina	First team All-America; first-team Academic All-America
Men's Basketball	Martins Igbanu	Tulsa	First team all-conference; 2020 American Sixth Man of the Year
Women's Basketball	Antoinette Miller	Cincinnati	WBCA honorable mention All-America; all-region selection
Men's Cross Country	Kevin Lapansky	Temple	Three-time all-conference performer; NCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region
Women's Cross Country	Caitlin Klopfer	Tulsa	Top finisher for 2020 American Athletic Conference championship team
Football	Matt Hennessy	Temple	Third team AP All-America; first-team all-conference; Rimington Trophy finalist
Men's Golf	Patrick Stephenson	East Carolina	All-conference selection in 2018
Women's Golf	Dorthea Forbrigd	East Carolina	Two-time all-conference selection; four-time WGCA Scholar All-America
Women's Lacrosse	Megan Pallozzi	East Carolina	Team's leading goal scorer in two of first three seasons
Women's Rowing	Mia Cleary	UCF	Member of three American Athletic Conference-champion varsity eight crews
Men's Soccer	Cal Jennings	UCF	First team All-America; Two-time American Offensive Player of the Year
Women's Soccer	Stasia Mallin	Memphis	First team All-America in 2019; Two-time Academic All-America
Softball	Alea White	UCF	First-team all-conference and NFCA all-region in 2019
Men's Swimming and Diving	Din Selmanovic	Cincinnati	2019 American Swimmer of the Year; won four conference individual titles
Women's Swimming and Diving	Zarena Brown	Houston	2020 American Swimmer of the Year; won 15 career conference championships
Men's Tennis	Paolo Cucalon	Temple	Helped team to semifinals of conference championship in 2019
Women's Tennis	Martina Okalova	Tulsa	2019 ITA All-America and two-time all-conference selection
Men's Indoor Track and Field	Damien Berthenet	Cincinnati	2020 Most Outstanding Field Performance at American Championships
Women's Indoor Track and Field	Millie Howard	Temple	Set meet record in distance medley relay at 2020 American Championship
Men's Outdoor Track and Field	Reed Sahadevan	Tulsa	Competed in steeplechase and 5,000 at 2018 and 2019 American Championships
Women's Outdoor Track and Field	Hannah Miller	SMU	2019 conference champion in 5,000 and runner-up in 10,000
Women's Volleyball	Jordan Thompson	Cincinnati	First team All-America; CoSIDA Academic All-America; American Player of the Year
Men's At-Large (Rifle)	Levi Clark	Memphis	Two-time honorable mention All-America; NCAA Championship qualifier in 2018
Women's At-Large (Fencing)	Malia Hee	Temple	USFCA second-team All-America; Two-time NCAA Championship qualifier