Stanford’s Anderson Named Pac-12 Men’s Scholar Athlete of the Year

Courtesy: Pac-12 Conference

SAN FRANCISCO – Stanford senior Matt Anderson was named the Pac-12 Men’s Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2018-19 season, the Conference office announced on Wednesday. The award, which is presented in each of the 24 sports the Pac-12 sponsors, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes who are standouts both academically and in their sports discipline.

Anderson, a native of Scottsdale, Ariz., boasts a 3.66 grade-point average studying human biology. He is a six-time All-American in both the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay. Anderson has record 11 top-10 finishes at the Pac-12 Championships and has competed at the NCAA Championships for three-straight seasons.

Out of the pool, he is one of Stanford’s most accomplished student-athletes. Anderson is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection, earning first team recognition in 2018 and second team in 2017. He was also named a CSCAA Academic All-American his sophomore year.

Anderson is a dedicated advocate for student-athlete wellness and mental health awareness. He has served as the vice president of Stanford’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) from 2016-19, which aims to enhance the total student-athlete experience by promoting opportunity for all student-athletes; protecting student-athlete welfare; and fostering positive student-athlete image. He is also the co-president of Cardinal RHED (Resilience, Health and Emotional Development), a group dedicated to improving the lives of Stanford student-athletes on topics of mental health and prevention, wellness practices, nutrition, body image, and injury. With Cardinal RHED, he planned and organized the first annual GameFACES event, a platform for student-athletes to share stories about their experiences with mental health. With the help of sports psychologists at Stanford, he helped to create a course curriculum for peer mentoring classes that provide strategies for addressing mental health in the student-athlete community.

Anderson has extended his efforts at the Conference level as a representative for Stanford at the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in the Fall of 2017. SAAC is a forum for Pac-12 student-athlete leaders to promote camaraderie and cooperation while fostering a sense of Conference unity and pride. He’s also worked with the NCAA in February 2018 at the APPLE Institute, an annual three-day national training institute for student-athletes, athletics administrators and campus partners dedicated to substance abuse prevention and health promotion of college athletes.

In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50 percent of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletics accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in voting for the award.

A Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be named in each of the Pac-12’s 24 sponsored sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, beach volleyball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, men’s rowing, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, women’s volleyball, and wrestling. The award was first established during the 2007-08 academic year.

Anderson and the rest of the Pac-12 will be competing this week at the 2019 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Championships in Federal Way, Wash., from March 6-9.  Pac-12 Networks is set to feature live coverage of the Pac-12 Swimming Championships on March 8 and 9, and will also be available via the Pac-12 Now app and Pac-12.com.

ALSO NOMINATED: Matt Salerno, ARIZONA; David Hoffer, ARIZONA STATE; Patrick Mulcare, USC; Austin Phillips, UTAH.

PREVIOUS MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR