ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Heading into the 2015-16 season, Allison Kosobud and Megan Pekarek were at very different points in their collegiate athletic careers at the College of Saint Benedict.
 
Kosobud, a junior on the CSB track and field and cross country teams, entered her third season with the Blazers in 2015-16. She studied abroad in the fall and missed cross country, but competed in both indoor and outdoor track and field. She also missed much of her sophomore season with injuries, but as a first year she set several school records and qualified for both the indoor and outdoor national championships.
 
Pekarek, a sophomore on the CSB volleyball team, played her first season with the Blazers in 2015 after transferring from UW-Parkside, an NCAA Division II program in Wisconsin.
 
By the time their respective seasons were over, however, one thing was clear: both Kosobud and Pekarek were among some of the top athletes across all of the Blazers' varsity sports. Kosobud qualified for nationals for the third time in her career and set two school records. Pekarek led the MIAC in assists and helped CSB earn its fifth straight trip to the national tournament.
 
For their respective seasons, Kosobud and Pekarek have been named CSB's co-Athletes of the Year, as voted on by CSB coaches and athletics staff.
 
Kosobud and Pekarek were in impressive company on the list of 12 nominees for the Blazers' 2015-16 Athlete of the Year award. Between the 12 nominees they amassed two MIAC titles, 14 All-MIAC honors, 10 All-Region accolades, one national tournament berth, eight school records and one All-American honor. Of the 12 nominees, nine were sophomores and juniors and return to their respective teams in 2016-17.
 
After studying abroad in fall 2015, Kosobud joined the Blazer track and field team for the indoor season. At the MIAC Indoor Championships, she finished second in the 1,000-meter run to earn All-MIAC honors, and also earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention in the 800.
 
During the outdoor season, Kosobud added another All-MIAC honor to her resume – this time in the 800 after taking third – and also earned honorable mention accolades in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays. She set the school record in the 800 and 1,500, and qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships in the 1,500-meter run. Kosobud – the first Blazer track and field athlete to qualify for nationals since 2014 – came into the race seeded 22^nd in the nation, but finished 17^th overall in the prelims at the national meet.
 
Kosobud's bettered her own school record in the 800 at the La Crosse Qualifier in May with a time of 2:12.33, and broke former teammate Manon Gammon-Deering's record in the 1,500 in 4:34.17. She finished the year ranked 31^st in Division III in the 800.
 
Pekarek came into her first season with the CSB volleyball program looking to make a name for herself, and she did just that. She earned All-MIAC, All-Region and All-American Honorable Mention accolades in 2015 and helped guide the Blazers to the national tournament for the fifth straight year and the eighth time in the last nine seasons.
 
Over the course of the season, Pekarek racked up 1,105 assists, which topped the MIAC by more than 100. She averaged 9.61 assists per set, and also finished the season with 275 digs and 144 kills. Pekarek recorded three straight triple-doubles, and was the first CSB volleyball player to record a triple-double since 2012. She also finished the season with nine double-doubles, and recorded a career-high 51 assists Oct. 2 in a 3-2 win at Saint Mary's.
 
In her first season with the Blazers, Pekarek became the first CSB athlete in any sport to earn MIAC Player of the Week honors three times in one season. She is one of just 12 Saint Benedict athletes to earn the honor three or more times in their careers.