Chelf, Piliusina Named OSU Student Athletes Of The Year

Oklahoma State quarterback Clint Chelf and OSU track and field/cross country standout Natalja Piliusina were named the OSU male and female Student-Athletes of the Year at Monday night's Athletic Awards Banquet.

To qualify for the award, a student-athlete was required to maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and have completed more than 100 academic credit hours.

"This is the time of the year when we honor our students for their achievements in the classroom," said Dr. Marilyn Middlebrook, associate athletic director of academic affairs. "In their sports, our athletes have championships and honors they receive. This is their academic championship."

Chelf and Piliusina highlighted an accomplished year for OSU student athletes.

The 2012 Academic All-Big 12 Teams were full of Cowboys and Cowgirls. Of the academic All-Big 12 teams that have been announced to date, OSU has had 107 student-athletes named to those teams, and the Coaches Association recognized eight OSU athletic teams as All-Academic Teams.

Individually, OSU student-athletes have been racking up conference and national accolades.

Three Oklahoma State senior student-athletes were named 2012-13 Seniors of Significance. In all, 40 seniors were chosen for this award by the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association. The athletes chosen were Mandi Neujahr (equestrian), Chelsea Garcia (softball) and Meg Sokolosky (women's tennis).

Garcia is also one of 15 graduating seniors to receive the Outstanding Senior Award. The Alumni Association awards seniors who "distinguish themselves through academic achievement; campus and community activities; academic, athletic, or extracurricular honors or awards; scholarships and work ethic during their time at OSU."

OSU had 22 student-athletes named Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars for 2013, with Devin Hedgepeth leading the way, qualifying as a First-Team Finalist. There have now been 148 Cowboy and Cowgirl student-athletes to receive this award.

In 2012, Adriana Franch became the third Cowgirl Soccer player to be named a finalist for the NCAA Senior CLASS Award. The award is for student-athletes who have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: Community, Classroom, Character and Completion.

Five OSU seniors won the Gerald Lage Award, which is for Big 12 student-athletes who maintained a GPA of 3.80 or higher, while having completed at least 100 credit hours. The recipients are Trevor Horstman (men's tennis), Caitlin Way (women's track and field), Kendra Woodson (women's track and field), Caitlin Harris (equestrian) and Haydan Vosburgh (equestrian).

OSU student-athletes also made appearances all over the school and conference honor rolls.

For Spring 2012, 35 OSU student-athletes earned President's Honor Roll, 69 earned Dean's Honor Roll and 228 earned Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll (3.0 GPA or above).

For Fall 2012, 40 OSU student-athletes earned President's Honor Roll, 91 earned Dean's Honor Roll, and 268 earned Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll.