Oklahoma State University Athletics
Fourteen Cowgirls Named Academic All-Big 12
November 01, 2011 | Cowgirl Soccer
Nov. 1, 2011
IRVING, Texas – Oklahoma State placed 14 players on the 2011 Academic All-Big 12 Team and led the conference with five honorees nominated with a 4.0 grade point average, it was announced by the league today.
Thirteen of OSU's Academic All-Big 12 performers were named to the first team, while the Cowgirls placed one on the second team. The 13 first teamers tied Baylor for the most in the Big 12 in 2011.
OSU also tied its previous records for most first-team selections in program history (the Cowgirls also had 13 in 2010) and the most overall Academic All-Big 12 honorees (sharing that record with the 2009 team).
Highlighting OSU's honorees is the Cowgirls' senior class as all eight members of that class – Sarah Brown, Colleen Dougherty, Elizabeth DeLozier, Becky Garrett, Krista Lopez, Melinda Mercado, Annika Niemeier and Kyndall Treadwell – earned Academic All-Big 12 First Team accolades. Four of those seniors – Dougherty, Lopez, Niemeier and Treadwell – were nominated with 4.0 GPAs.
For Niemeier, 2011 marked her fourth-straight year on the Academic All-Big 12 First Team, while Brown, Dougherty, DeLozier, Lopez, Mercado and Treadwell each made the first team for the third consecutive year. Garrett was a first-time honoree.
OSU also had a trio of juniors named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team in Carson Michalowski, Megan Marchesano and Catherine Parish. Michalowski and Marchesano were also first teamers in 2010, while Parish earned the award for the first time.
Rounding out the Cowgirls' list of Academic All-Big 12 First Team performers were sophomores Kristen Kelley and Taylor Mathews. Both garnered the honor in their first year to be eligible, and Kelley was also nominated with a 4.0 GPA.
Junior AD Franch earned Academic All-Big 12 honors for the first time in her career as the Cowgirl goalie was named to the second team.
Nominated by each institution's director of student-athlete support services, the 2011 Academic All-Big 12 soccer teams consisted of 72 first-team members combined with 19 on the second team. First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, and the second team are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.
To qualify student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of their team's scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
