Oklahoma State University Athletics
2007 Student-Athlete of the Year
October 30, 2007 | General
2007 Student-Athletes of the Year
Lauren Simmons
Lauren began her outstanding OSU Women's Tennis career as a walk-on in the fall of 2003. Lauren earned many honors and awards. She was the 2007 Big XII singles champion; She was the Big XII “Player of the Week” twice during her career; Her 74 career singles wins ranks among Top 5 All-Time in OSU history; She was the Prentice Gautt/Big XII Postgraduate recipient in June 2007; She was an OSU Alumni Association Senior of Significance in the Fall of 2006; She is a two time ITA Scholar-Athlete; Twice she was a member of the ITA All-Academic Team; Three times she has been named to the 1st Team Academic All Big XII; Eight times she has been named to the Big XII Honor Roll. Lauren was an active member of SAAC and served many officer roles including Co-President during 2006-2007. Lauren graduated Summa Cum Laude with a History/Pre-Law degree and a minor in Religious Studies.
Darnell Smith
As a Defensive End for OSU's football team, Darnell has helped guide OSU to bowl games in 4 of 5 years at OSU, including a win versus Alabama in the 2006 Independence Bowl. During his time as a Cowboy he volunteered countless hours for various organizations including UNICEF, hurricane Katrina relief effort, and the American Red Cross...just to name a few. He was a member of the SAAC committee. He earned many awards and honors. He was a Big XII Postgraduate Scholarship recipient; He was a 2nd team member of the ESPN/Co-SIDA Academic All-American team; He was an OSU Alumni Association Senior of Significance award winner; He was a semifinalist for the College Football Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete award; He was a 2-time Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar Award winner; Twice he earned the Dr. L.L. Boger Award as the top student-athlete on the football team; He was a four-time member of the 1st team Academic All Big XII; Nine times his name appeard on the Big XII commissioner's Honor Roll. Darnell graduated with a degree in Economics and he is currently pursuing a master's degree in Natural & Applied Sciences.
