62 Kansas Student-Athletes Named to the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Big 12 Conference announced the 2020-21 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team on Friday, with a total of 521 student-athletes earning the distinction. Kansas had 62 student-athletes on the list trailing only Texas (95) and West Virginia (63). Fourteen of the Jayhawks’ recipients earned perfect 4.0 grade point averages in the past year.

Angelina Arinze (track & field), Sophia Buzard (softball), Kara Church (swim & dive), Kate Dreyer (soccer), Shira Elinav (soccer), Bradley Freidel (track & field), Kaitlyn Gee (softball), Lauren Gryboski (swim & dive), Elise McGhie (volleyball), Molly Schultz (volleyball), Emma Steiner (rowing), Reis Vernon (football), Stella Warren and Kate Wienke (rowing) were KU’s 14 student-athletes on the list of 69 overall who posted perfect 4.0 GPAs.

Nominated by each institution’s director of student-athlete support services, student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team must be a new, first-time/incoming freshman that have completed 24 semester hours of non-remedial coursework and achieved a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00. Additionally, the student-athlete must have participated in at least one of their team’s scheduled contests and must have been a member of their respective team for their sport’s entire NCAA Championship segment.

The Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team was introduced in the 2012-13 academic year.

The KU rowing team led the way for the Jayhawks with 14 honorees, followed by track and field with 11, volleyball with seven, soccer and football tabbed six apiece, swim and dive notched five, baseball and men’s basketball tallied three, women’s basketball, women’s golf and softball added two apiece and men’s golf earned one.