The Big 12's final awards for the past academic year have finally been announced, and for the second time in three years a Kansas State Wildcat has been named Big 12 Male Athlete of the Year. Receiver Tyler Lockett earned the honor over a field of nine other athletes -- one from each school -- in a vote of Big 12 media members with a fan voting component.
The award, in both male and female permutations, is not just an athletic award; academic achievement and citizenship are also key components.
Lockett, the only football player among the ten nominees, joins 2013 winner Collin Klein as a Wildcat honoree. Other nominees were basketball stars Buddy Hield of Oklahoma and Juwan Staten of West Virginia, baseball phenoms Michael Freeman of Oklahoma State and Preston Morrison of TCU, Baylor sprinter Trayvon Bromell, Iowa State wrestler Kyven Gadson, Kansas hurdler Michael Stigler, Texas swimmer Will Licon, and Texas Tech high jumber JaCorian Duffield.
In a decision which surprises pretty much nobody, the Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year award went to Oklahoma softball legend Lauren Chamberlain; K-State's nominee was track star Akela Jones; other nominees were basketball players Nina Davis of Baylor and Chelsea Prince of TCU, soccer standouts Janine Beckie of Texas Tech and Kadeisha Buchanan of West Virginia, Iowa State shot put champ Christina Hillman, Kansas swimmer Chelsie Miller, Oklahoma State distance runner Natalja Piliusina, and Texas volleyball star Haley Eckerman.
Video courtesy our friends at Campus Insiders.