University of Wisconsin-River Falls

The WIAC Scholar-Athlete Award is presented to the most outstanding senior from each conference sport during the year who exhibits the greatest combination of performance and achievement in academics, athletics and leadership. The Women's Scholar-Athlete Award was renamed the Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete Award effective with the 1998-99 season.

Sarah Carlson
2005
Plymouth, Minn.
Armstrong High School

Forward Sarah Carlson won the two top individual awards given by the WIAC. She earned the Player of the Year award, for the second time in her three-year career at UW-River Falls, and the sport's Scholar-Athlete.

Carlson, 5-3, was named the league's Co-MVP after the 2003 season. The Falcons won the WIAC regular season championship in 2003.

Carlson led the Falcons and the WIAC in scoring in 2005. She scored nine goals and had 10 assists for 28 points. She scored three game winning goals against St. Scholastica, Superior and Stevens Point. She scored goals in seven games and added assists in seven games. She twice scored five points in a game - she scored twice and had one assist against St. Scholastica and she scored a goal and had three assists against Superior. She played and started in all 19 games.

In 58 career games she has scored 37 goals and 29 assists for 103 points. The Falcons have compiled a 41-13-4 record in her three seasons.

She has a 3.906 grade point average and is majoring in communicative disorders with a minor in early childhood. She has been named to the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll in 2002, 2003 and 2004. She's been named to the UW-RF Dean's List four times.

Carlson has been named to the All-WIAC team in 2003, 2004 and 2005. She was voted the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player in 2003 and 2004. She was one of the team's captains in 2005. She was named to the second 2005 NSCAA / adidas All-Central Region team. Carlson has been named the WIAC Player of the Week four times in her career; twice in 2003 and once in 2004 and 2005. She is a member of the National Student Speech-Language & Hearing Association.

The Falcons finished the 2005 season with a 12-4-3 overall record and advanced to the WIAC playoff semifinals.

Carlin Bunting
2012
Cottage Grove, Minn.
Hastings High School

Falcon Carlin Bunting has been named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic (WIAC) Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2012 season.

A senior, Bunting boasts a 4.00 cumulative grade point average and is majoring in business administration and economics. She is a three-time member of the Capital One Academic All-District soccer first yeam, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.  A season ago, Bunting was named to the Academic All-America second team and UW-River Falls’ Dr. Connie Foster Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.  She has been recognized on her institution’s Dean’s List and the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll. 
 
A team captain this year, Bunting is a three-time All-WIAC first team selection.  In 2010, she tallied 10 assists which rank second on the school’s single-season chart and received her team’s Most Valuable Player award.
 
Bunting is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society, and UW-River Falls’ Rock Climbing Club and Geography Club. She has served as a volunteer for Feed My Starving Children, Hastings Family Service, Harbor Church and River Falls High School Soccer Program.  In 2009, she was a national finalist for Young Female Referee of the Year. Bunting has been a National Conference for Undergraduate Research presenter and has research published at the Univeristy of North Carolina. She also is a UWRF Center for Economic Research assistant. 

"Carlin has been a great leader for us the last four years," said Falcon Coach Sean McKuras. "She has won several awards for her play on and off the field and this is another well deserved honor."

The WIAC Scholar-Athlete Award is named after Judy Kruckman who served as Assistant Commissioner for the WIAC from 1996-98.  Prior to this appointment, she was Commissioner of the Wisconsin Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WWIAC) from October 1984 - September 1996.  Kruckman was the women’s athletics director at UW-Eau Claire from 1974-84, and one of the original representatives to the WWIAC when it formed in 1971.

In order to be nominated for the scholar-athlete award, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.50 grade point average.  In addition, she must be in his last year of competition, or on schedule to graduate this academic year, and have competed for a minimum of two years.