DALLAS — UTSA graduate student Abby Balli has been named the 2022-23 Conference USA Women's Cross Country Scholar Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Thursday.
Balli joins fellow Roadrunners Oreoluwa Adamson (women's track & field) and Hailey Atwood (women's basketball) as well as 13 other student-athletes from across the league who were selected by C-USA faculty athletics representatives as the top scholar athlete in each conference-sponsored sport based on academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service. In fact, UTSA matched Middle Tennessee, Rice and UAB with the most honorees (three) on this year's list of award recipients.
Balli boasts a 3.61 GPA while working toward her master's of business administration degree after graduating cum laude with a bachelor's degree in management in 2022. The Pasadena, Texas, native has landed on the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll four times and the UTSA Honor Roll twice, and she is a C-USA Academic Medal recipient.
Balli has been a standout for the Roadrunners on the cross country course and track during her career. A two-time conference medalist, she was the league runner-up in the mile at the 2021 C-USA Indoor Championships and the bronze medalist in the same event one year later. She placed 29th at the C-USA Cross Country Championships, finished 15th at the UIW Invitational and was 72nd at the NCAA South Central Regional last fall.
Heavily involved in community service, Balli has volunteered her time with the Pasadena Eye Center of Texas, Animal Defense League and San Jacinto Intermediate School. She serves on the UTSA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Executive Board as Vice President and has been a SAAC representative for the cross country program.
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