By COURTLIN HAYGARTH | HSU Sports Network

RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas — For the third consecutive year, Allie Bianchi of Henderson State women’s golf was named the 2023 Great American Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year as voted on by the conference’s Faculty Athletics Representatives.

Bianchi becomes just the second person in GAC history — male or female — to win three end-of-year awards, joining former Reddie Kevin Rogers who captured back-to-back Athlete of the Year awards in 2012-13 and 2013-14. Rogers doubled up in 2013-14 by earning the Scholar Athlete of the Year accolade for the trifecta.

The prestigious accolade comes after notching a third straight school year with a 4.0 grade point average. In her first year as a part of Henderson’s grad school program, Bianchi earned the perfect marks in Data Science in pursuit of her MBA.

Prior to winning the conference’s highest scholarly honor, the three-time GAC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year was named a 2023 College Sports Communicators First Team Academic All-American, marking her second appearance on the Academic All-American list by that publication.

On the golf course, Bianchi helped lead HSU women’s golf to its best finish in program history. After a comeback in the National Championships stroke play portion to finish seventh, a thrilling victory over West Texas A&M in the National Quarterfinals helped the Reddies become just the second GAC women’s program to ever reach a National Semifinals.

The two-time Academic All-American’s play earned her a WGCA All-America Honorable Mention nod as well as being tabbed All-Region for the second time in her collegiate career.

Bianchi sat down with Henderson State Director of Athletic Communications Court Haygarth to discuss her successful year on and off the course. You can view the interview HERE.