CINCINNATI - The American Athletic Conference today began announcing its academic honors for the 2018-19 seasons with University of Cincinnati student-athletes garnering two awards. Loretta Blaut was selected as the AAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Women's Indoor Track & Field while Austin Squires was selected as the AAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Men's Golf. Both individuals will receive a $2,000 scholarship to use in the pursuit of postgraduate studies.
// ABOUT THE AWARD
The awards are selected by the Faculty Athletic Representatives from each school with 10 men and 12 women honored each year. Each recipient was selected for maintaining both excellent academic credentials and outstanding athletic performances; competed in an AAC sponsored sport; and attained a minimum of senior standing.
// BLAUT HONORED AGAIN
The honor for Blaut is the second of her career after earning the outdoor award last year (2017-18). Recently, the five-time All-American was nominated by UC as one of its two selections for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, making her a finalist for the conference's nomination to the national governing body. Academically, she earned her undergraduate degree in marketing following the Spring 2018 semester before recently attaining her Master's in Business Administration in Spring 2019.
Blaut saw her collegiate career come to a close at the end of the 2019 indoor season where she finished third in the high jump at the NCAA Championships to earn her fifth USTFCCCA All-America First Team honor and the sixth All-America certificate of her career after earning second-team honors at the 2016 indoor meet. The 2018 NCAA indoor and outdoor runner-up in the high jump, Blaut also was a five-time AAC champion as she won the last five conference meets she entered, sweeping the 2017 and 2018 high jump titles at the indoor and outdoor competitions before claiming the 2019 indoor crown in her final season of eligibility. She also was twice named the AAC Female Field Most Outstanding Performer Award recipient for recording the top mark on the weekend at the conference meet.
Outside of competing for the Bearcats, she twice represented the United States in international events and earned medals for her performances. First, she competed in the NACAC U23 Championships in El Salvador after the 2016 collegiate season where she placed second with a best of 1.81m (5-11.25). Last summer (2018), she was selected to compete for the senior level team at the NACAC Championships in Toronto where she finished third overall.
The local product from nearby Seton High School, Blaut ended her career atop the program's all-time Top 10 as she tied for the school record indoors with a best of 1.87m (6-01.50) while claiming the top spot outdoors with a best of 1.88m (6-02.00) with both marks also ranking as the best ever recorded in the AAC.
// SQUIRES HONORED
Squires earned a degree in finance following the 2019 spring semester, finishing his studies with a 3.89 grade-point average. The senior was named the AAC's All-Academic Team every season and tabbed for the UC Dean's List and Bearcat Academic Honor Roll every semester during his collegiate career. Squires also earned the prestigious Jimmy Nippert Award in 2019, honoring the top male student-athlete at the University of Cincinnati who achieves great success in academics, athletics and community service.
On the course, Squires was recognized as a unanimous All-AAC selection in 2018-19, his second in the past three seasons. The PING All-Midwest Region selection took second place at the 2019 American Championship with a season-best 7-under par 206. He recorded four Top-5 results as a senior, never finishing outside the Top 16 in any of Cincinnati's 11 tournaments. He ended his final campaign with a school-record 70.62 stoke average.
A Haskins Award Watch List nominee, Squires became the first golfer in school history to qualify for two NCAA Regionals, when he participated in the NCAA Tournament Stanford Regional in May, tying for 33rd place at 4-over 214. He posted the highest finish by a Bearcat in NCAA Tournament action in 2017, tying for 21st place at 7-over 223 at the West Lafayette Regional.
For his career, Squires earned AAC All-Conference Team honors three times (2017, 2018, 2019), was selected as the 2017 AAC Player of the Year, a 2018 Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-American Scholar and a two-time participant in the U.S. Amateur where he advanced to the quarterfinals of match play in 2018.
// HISTORICAL DATA
The two awards earned this year gives UC 17 honorees in the six years the league has existed. Blaut earned her second such honor from the AAC after being named the AAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Women's Outdoor Track & Field last year and, combined with Adrian Valles earning the indoor men's honor in 2017-18 and 2016-17, a Bearcats track & field athlete has been recognized for three years running. Additionally, a UC track & field/cross country student-athlete has earned an award in five of the six years. Squires' selection gives the men's golf program honors in back-to-back years after Davis Baxter was selected for the 2017-18 year. His honor is the third overall for golf at UC after Olivia Dose was selected for the women's award in 2013-14.
// UC'S SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
2018-19
Loretta Blaut • Women's Indoor Track & Field
Austin Squires • Men's Golf
2017-18
Davis Baxter • Men's Golf
Loretta Blaut • Women's Outdoor Track & Field
Chris Bready • Men's Swimming & Diving
Vanessa Gilles • Women's Soccer
Lauren Hudson • Lacrosse (at-large)
Connor McVey • Baseball
Adrian Valles • Men's Indoor Track & Field *
2016-17
Adrian Valles • Men's Track & Field *
2015-16
Jacqueline Keire • Women's Swimming & Diving
Ryan Leahy • Football
2014-15
Brian Barney • Men's Track & Field *
Ian Happ • Baseball
2013-14
Olivia Dose • Women's Golf
Kaitlyn Good • Women's Indoor Track & Field
Eric Lefeld • Football
* named overall AAC Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year (for all sports)
Blaut, Squires Named AAC Scholar-Athletes of the Year
The American Athletic Conference today began announcing its academic honors for the 2018-19 seasons with University of Cincinnati student-athletes garnering two awards. Loretta Blaut was selected as the AAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Women's Indoor Track & Field while Austin Squires was selected as the AAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Men's Golf.
