📚 Kansas Student-Athletes led the Big 12 with 18 Recipients of the Dr. Gerald Lage Award

IRVING, Texas – The Big 12 conference announced the recipients of the 2021 Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award – the conference’s highest academic honor – on Wednesday. In total, 121 student-athletes were recognized. Kansas led the Big 12 with 18 honorees.

Aristelle Acuff (women’s golf), Benjamin Butler (men’s cross country/track & field), Katie Callahan (swimming & diving), Dannie Dilsaver (swimming & diving), Toni Englund (women’s track & field), Shelby Gayre (softball), George Letner (men’s cross country/track & field), Manon Manning (swimming & diving), Sara Nielsen (volleyball), Greta Olsen (swimming & diving), Danica Pecana (rowing), Sarah Peters (soccer), Hailey Reed (softball), Cooper Root (football), Ally Ryan (women’s cross county/track & field), Gabriel Sotomayor (baseball), Anezka Szabo (volleyball) and Tarin Travieso (softball) will all receive the award.

The recipients’ names will be featured on the video board at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Basketball Championships, scheduled for March 10-13 at the T-Mobile Center and March 11-14 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

Kansas swimming & diving led the Jayhawk contingent with four honorees, while softball was a close second with three recipients. Men’s cross country/track & field, volleyball and women’s cross country/track & field each tallied two honorees.

Since the inception of the award, a total of 901 conference student-athletes have been honored.

The award is in memory of Lage, who served as the Oklahoma State faculty athletics representative with the NCAA and the Big Eight/Big12 Conference from 1983 until his death in 2007. He was the chairman on three occasions (1985-86, 93-94 and 2003-04).

In order to be eligible for the accolade, student-athletes must have lettered at least once in their career while maintaining residence at their institution for at least one academic year. The honoree, which can only be recognized once, should have 100 hours of earned credit with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.80 at the time of the nomination.