Wichita State’s Brock Rodden, South Florida’s Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu Named 2022-23 American Athletic Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year |
IRVING, Texas – Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced that two American Athletic Conference players of the year – Wichita State baseball standout Brock Rodden and South Florida basketball star Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu – have been chosen as the 2022-23 American Athletic Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year, as chosen by the conference’s faculty athletics representatives.
Rodden, who was chosen as The American’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Mendjiadeu, The American’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, will each receive a $4,000 postgraduate financial scholarship.
Rodden and Mendjiadeu were chosen from a group of 24 individual sport Scholar-Athletes of the Year who received $2,000 postgraduate scholarships.
Rodden, a native of Oktaha, Oklahoma, becomes the first Wichita State student-athlete to be named as The American’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year and is the fourth baseball player from the conference to be chosen in the last five years. Rodden was named as The American’s Player of the Year after he hit .371 with 17 home runs and 64 RBIs in 55 games. He was chosen as an ABCA and Collegiate Baseball third-team All-America selection and was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the fifth round of the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft.
Rodden finished the 2023 spring semester with a 3.77 grade-point average as a health science major.
Mendjiadeu, who hails from Nkongsamba, Cameroon, becomes the second South Florida player in the last three years to be chosen as The American’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She shared the 2023 American Player of the Year honor with teammate Elena Tsineke and was a unanimous first-team all-conference selection on her way to WBCA honorable mention All-America honors. She led The American in rebounding at 12.3 boards per game and was third in the conference in scoring with 16.5 points per game.
Mendjiadeu earned a 3.57 grade-point average as an undergraduate as a mathematics major and holds a 3.73 GPA as a graduate student in finance while pursuing a professional basketball career with the WNBA’s Seattle Storm
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 at-large selections from sports not sponsored by the conference.
The complete list of 2022-23 winners and historical Scholar-Athletes of the Year are on the following pages.
Scholar-Athletes of the Year
The American Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards are among of a number of scholarships presented by the conference during the academic year.
The conference has presented individual sport Scholar-Athletes of the Year in baseball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball since the 2013-14 season. The conference has presented individual awards in all other sports beginning with the 2017-18 season.
2023 American Athletic Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Brock Rodden, Wichita State (Baseball)
2023 American Athletic Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, South Florida (Basketball)
2023 American Athletic Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year
| Sport | Student-Athlete | School | Highlights |
| Baseball | Brock Rodden | Wichita State | American Player of the Year; Third-team ABCA All-America |
| Men’s Basketball | Sam Hines Jr. | South Florida | Played all 28 games and was second on team in steals |
| Women’s Basketball | Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu | South Florida | American Player of the Year; WBCA Honorable Mention All-America |
| Men’s Cross Country | Isaac Akers | Tulsa | American individual champion; four-time all-conference selection |
| Women’s Cross Country | Katharina Pesendorfer | Tulsa | Fourth-place finisher at American Championships; four-time all-conference |
| Football | Jason Johnson | UCF | First-team all-conference linebacker; led team with 126 tackles |
| Men’s Golf | Samuel Jean | Cincinnati | Three-time all-conference pick; program-record 69.77 stroke average |
| Women’s Golf | Lilly Thomas | Tulsa | Three-time all-conference pick; eight top-20 finishes in 2022-23 |
| Women’s Lacrosse | Belle Mastropietro | Temple | Two-time American Midfielder of the Year; three-time all-conference pick |
| Women’s Rowing | Karen Undset | Tulsa | Two-time all-conference selection; raced in 30 career regattas |
| Men’s Soccer | Knut Ahlander | SMU | American Offensive Player of the Year; First-team All-America |
| Women’s Soccer | Mya Jones | Memphis | Four-time all-conference selection; team’s leading scorer in 2022 |
| Softball | Shannon Doherty | UCF | First-team all-conference infielder; led team with nine home runs |
| Men’s Swimming and Diving | Dominic Hoefer | SMU | American runner-up in 3-meter diving in 2023 |
| Women’s Swimming and Diving | Nicole Stambo | SMU | American champion in 1-meter diving in 2023; NCAA qualifier in platform diving |
| Men’s Tennis | Thibault Frumholtz | Temple | Ranks fifth in program history with 84 career singles and doubles wins |
| Women’s Tennis | Marie Mattel | UCF | Two-time NCAA singles qualifier; two-time all-conference pick |
| Men’s Indoor Track and Field | Starrett Vesper | East Carolina | Ranks third in program history in decathlon |
| Women’s Indoor Track and Field | Rayniah Jones | UCF | American champion in the 60-meter hurdles; won four American indoor titles |
| Men’s Outdoor Track and Field | Cormac Dalton | Tulsa | American champion in the 5,000-meter run; 10th in 10,000 at NCAA meet |
| Women’s Outdoor Track and Field | Latasha Smith | UCF | American champion in 200 and 400 in 2023 |
| Women’s Volleyball | McKenna Melville | UCF | Three-time American Player of the Year; First team AVCA All-America |
| Men’s At-Large (Sailing) | Kit Stoll | Tulane | Helped team to 2022 ICSA Fleet Race National Championship |
| Women’s At-Large (Fencing) | Margherita Calderaro | Temple | Two-time NIWFA foil champion four-time NCAA regional qualifier |
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