Carli Spelhaug Named Big 12 Spring Scholar Athlete of the Year

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State's Carli Spelhaug has been named the 2022 Big 12 Spring Scholar-Athlete of the Year for softball, the conference announced on Thursday. She was selected for the honor based on a vote of each sport's respective head coaches.

Spelhaug started 51 games last season for the Cyclones and finished the season with a .313 batting average with 12 doubles, six home runs, three triples and 19 runs batted in. She is currently ranked 10th all-time in program history with 43 stolen bases and ended the year with a .977 career stolen base percentage (43-of-44), tied for the second best among active Division I players. Spelhaug finished the season with 14 multi-hit games, the second most on the team and tallied five multi-RBI performances. Academically, Spelhaug was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team this past season. She is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 first teamer and was named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll in 2022.

The Big 12 Conference established its Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2012-13. A recipient is named in each conference-sponsored sport. Every Big 12 institution and affiliate members nominate one individual per sport with the winners selected by a vote of the league head coaches for that sport, who are not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes. Scholar-Athlete of the Year nominees must be a junior or senior (academic standing), have a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher, participate in at least 20 percent of the team's scheduled contests and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution.

The Bettendorf, Iowa native is majoring in kinesiology and health.