Geisthardt Named Co-Recipient Of WIAC Football Scholar-Athlete Award

UW-Oshkosh senior punter Turner Geisthardt has been selected as the co-recipient of the 2018 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Football Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete Award.

Geisthardt, who shared this year's award with UW-Stout senior offensive tackle Caleb Adams, becomes the fourth UW-Oshkosh honoree, joining Rob Stoltz in 1996, Craig Pierstorff in 1999 and Cory Wipperfurth in 2013.

Geisthardt is majoring in kinesiology and maintains a 3.94 grade point average. A year ago, Geisthardt was a Google Cloud NCAA Division III Academic All-America® First Team honoree as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. He was a semifinalist for the 2018 National Football Foundation William V. Campbell Trophy and is a three-time member of the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll. Geisthardt has been recognized on UW-Oshkosh's Dean's List numerous semesters.

Geisthardt secured All-WIAC honorable mention honors this fall after claiming second team recognition the previous three seasons. He averaged a league-leading 39.6 yards per punt in 2018 and placed 18 of his kicks inside the opponent's 20-yard line.

Geisthardt helped UW-Oshkosh compile a four-year record of 42-9, win WIAC titles in 2015 and 2017 and advance to the national championship game in 2016. A season ago, he was named to the D3football.com All-West Region Second Team. Geisthardt was also selected to the All-WIAC First Team as a placekicker in 2017.

Geisthardt has volunteered for the St. Vincent De Paul Food Pantry, Be the Match and Oshkosh Police Department. He has worked for Advocate Aurora Healthcare as a Pre-Op/PACU Nursing Assistant and Winnebago Mental Health Institute as a patient care technician.

The WIAC Scholar-Athlete Award is named after Max Sparger, who served as commissioner of the Wisconsin State University Conference for 22 years from 1971-93.

In order to be nominated for the scholar-athlete award, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.50 grade point average. In addition, he 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.

Also nominated for this year's award were UW-La Crosse's Austin Mancosky, UW-Platteville's Ben Mogilevsky, UW-River Falls' Joey Leonard, UW-Stevens Point's Boyd Delebreau and UW-Whitewater's Bailey Breunig.

UW-Oshkosh earned a 6-4 record this fall and placed third in the WIAC with a 4-3 mark.