K-State Places 65 on Big 12 Academic All-Rookie Team
(Courtesy of Kansas State Athletics)
MANHATTAN, Kansas – Kansas State student-athletes continued to receive honors and accolades for their hard work in the classroom, as 65 Wildcats were named to the 2019-20 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team in an announcement by the conference office on Wednesday.
In the eight years of the award’s existence, K-State has placed 260 student-athletes on the list.
The Wildcats tied for the league-high with 17 student-athletes earning the honor with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. The 17 recipients with 4.0 GPAs were: Urte Bacianskaite (track & field), Silke Bonnen (soccer), Sydney Burton (track & field), Ashley Cass (rowing), Shannon Dukes (soccer), Jace Friesen (football), Helen Giefer (cross country), Jadyn Greisen (rowing), Nathan Hassed (track & field), Cameron Illingworth (soccer), Timothy Lambert, Jr. (track & field), Emma Lucas (track & field), Austin Moore (football), Cailan Steward (track & field/cross country), Hannah Stewart (track & field/cross country), Jordan Tauscher (track & field) and Caylee Thornhill (soccer).
The remaining honorees for the Wildcats on the 2019-20 Big 12 Academic All-Rookie Team are: Cooper Beebe (football), Jenna Brown (soccer), Alyssa Buettner (rowing), Ashley Cass (rowing), Emma Chapman (women’s basketball), Elijah Dale (baseball), Madalynn Davis (rowing), Lindsey Devreugd (rowing), Jax Dineen (football), Regan Dineen (track & field), Ben Driver (football), Shannon Dukes (soccer), Philippa Earley (track & field), Tre Eaton (football), Emilee Ebert (women’s basketball), Keenan Garber (football), DaJuan Gordon (men’s basketball), Jadyn Greisen (rowing), James Higgs (track & field), Faith Hammontree (volleyball), Loren Hinkle (volleyball), Patricia Hokanson (rowing), Gabe Hoover (football), Dominic Hughes (baseball), Will Jones II (football), Delaney Kemp (track & field/cross country), Morgan Lanzo (rowing), Riccardo Leo (men’s golf), Jaren Lewis (football), Tyrone Lewis (football), Briana Lowe (track & field), Vaughn Malone (football), Jack Moore (track & field/cross country), Brendan Mott (football), Kindel Nordhus (track & field), Alyssa Pemberton (rowing), Matthew Pola-Mao (football), Allison Pringle (rowing), Madeline Righter (track & field), Nico Rodriguez (baseball), Jaybe Shufelberge (track & field/cross country), Oscar Smith (track & field), Hadley Splechter (track & field/cross country), Cailan Steward (track & field/cross country), Hannah Stewart (track & field/cross country), Elliott Strahm (football), Jack Thomas (track & field/cross country), Jada Thorpe (women’s basketball), Shae Turner (soccer), Baylee Unruh (track & field), Haley Vargas (women’s golf), Avery Whittle (rowing), Joshua Youngblood (football).
Nominated by each institution’s director of student-athlete support services, student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team must be new, first-time/incoming freshmen that have completed 24 semester hours of non-remedial coursework and achieved a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00. The Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team as introduced in the 2012-13 academic year.
K-State, a Tier 1 Carnegie Foundation Institution, has had another outstanding academic year in 2019-20. The Wildcats saw 79 student-athletes receive their diplomas (21 in December; 58 in May) during the 2019-20 academic year.
K-State student-athletes combined for 162 Academic All-Big 12 citations during the 2019-20 school year, including program records for football (32), soccer (17) and baseball (13). Headlining the group were a pair of Big 12 Scholar-Athletes of the Year in Adam Holtorf (football) and Peyton Williams (women’s basketball). Both student-athletes, in addition to volleyball’s Brynn Carlson, earned Academic All-America honors.
K-State also had seven student-athletes earn the 10th annual Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award, which is the Big 12 Conference’s highest academic honor.
Kansas State had a total of 258 K-State student-athletes named to the Fall 2019 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, which marked the 24th-straight semester K-State tallied at least 200. Of the 258 K-State student-athletes earning the citation for their academic excellence, 77 registered a GPA of 4.0 in the fall semester.
