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Williams Named Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year
June 09, 2016 04:25 PM | Track & Field
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Senior Kelly Williams of the West Virginia University track and field team has been named the 2016 Big 12 Women’s Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the conference announced on Thursday.
“Kelly Williams had a storybook ending to her academic career,” said coach Sean Cleary. “Frist an Elite 89 Award winner, and now this tremendous honor. Coming into WVU as an unheralded student-athlete she graduates with an unblemished academic resume and All-America Honors in the mile. What a legacy.”
While maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average, Williams graduated with a master’s of science in journalism in May, 2016.
Williams is the first Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year honoree for the Mountaineer track and field team.
The Chesterland, Ohio, native was named to the 2016 Track and Field/Cross Country Academic All-District First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), in each of the past two years, and in 2015 she earned Academic All-America honors. She is also an Elite 89 Award winner, a three-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree and has been named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll and the Dean’s List.
As a freshman in 2013, Williams inked her name into the WVU record books, becoming the 33rd All-American in program history. She recorded a seventh-place finish in the mile with a time of 4:39.30 at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
#Big12TF: @WVUTrackField's Kelly Williams, a distance runner for WVU, sported a 4.00 grade point average. pic.twitter.com/cqt2O94oyS
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) June 9, 2016
The Big 12 Conference established its Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2012-13. A recipient is named in each of the Conference’s sponsored sports. Each Big 12 institution nominates one individual per sport with the winners selected by a vote of the league’s head coaches for that sport, who are not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes.
The Scholar-Athlete must be a junior or senior (athletic and academic standing), have a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher, participate in at least 60 percent of the team’s scheduled contests and reside at the institution for a minimum of one year.
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