UO release – SAN FRANCISCO — Alex Forsyth (Football) and Karly Nowak (Acrobatics & Tumbling) were announced as Oregon’s two recipients for the 2022-23 Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal on Thursday afternoon. The award is given annually to each member institution’s outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership. Conference medal winners have been named every year since the 1960-61 academic year. In 2009, the Pac-12 renamed the award the Tom Hansen Conference Medal in honor of Hansen, who retired at the end of June 2009 after serving for 26 years as Commissioner of the Pac-10. Alex Forsyth, Football (West Linn, Ore.) – Earned a master’s degree in advertising and brand responsibility after completing his bachelor’s in journalism with a 3.49 GPA … Named a semifinalist for William V. Campbell Trophy (nicknamed the “Academic Heisman”) which is awarded to the American college football player with the best combination of academics, community service and on-field performance… Three-time All-Pac-12 selection on the offensive line (first team in 2022; second team in 2020 & 2021) and named Second Team All-America by the FWAA … Allowed just one pressure and zero sacks in 384 pass-blocking opportunities in 2022 to lead Oregon’s blockers with an 85.8 pass-blocking grade by PFF, the fourth-best among all FBS centers … The Ducks allowed just five sacks, the fewest sacks by a non-triple option team since 2015 … Helped Oregon become the only FBS offense to finish in the top 17 in both rushing and passing offense … Selected by the Denver Broncos in the 7th round (257th overall) in the 2023 NFL Draft … One of three finalists for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award … Member of Mentor Program and performed community service through the O Heroes program. Karly Nowak, Acrobatics & Tumbling (Howell, N.J.) – Earned degree in human physiology with a 3.59 grade-point average … Four-time National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA) Academic Honor Roll (2020-23) … Three-time Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll recipient (2021, 2022, 2023) … 2023 NCATA All-American, helping Oregon to a runner-up national finish, its best since 2019 … Earned NCATA Athlete of the Week in Feb. 2023 following UO’s upset of Azusa Pacific … Competed in all nine matches in 2023 and all 26 during four-year career … Member of executive committee of Oregon’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), participated in Pac-12 Student-Athlete Leadership Team (SALT) Conference in May 2023 … Worked on the Duck the Stigma program designed to raise awareness of mental health issues … Traveled to Guatemala in 2022 with Courts for Kids, an international service organization that facilitates the construction of sport courts in rural communities around the world.
