OSU athletics completes record year in the classroom

Friday, June 22, 2007

The Oklahoma State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has wrapped up an academic year that included unprecedented classroom performances by its student-athletes.

“I applaud the record-setting academic work of our student-athletes this past school year,” said interim OSU System CEO and President Marlene Strathe. “I commend VP for Athletics Mike Holder, Associate AD for Academics Marilyn Middlebrook, and our entire team of coaches and staff for their commitment to our students and academics. Our student-athletes are outstanding representatives for our school.”

The academic achievements come in a year in which 10 OSU programs reached the top 10 of their respective sports.

A total of 101 OSU student-athletes were honored as academic all-Big 12 Conference selections during the 2006-07 school year, breaking the school record of 97 set in 2002. Nationally, OSU set a school record with 24 academic All-Americans or National Scholar Athlete selections. The previous school's best was 22, set in 2004-2005.

In the fall of 2006, 72 student-athletes were members of the Dean’s Honor Roll (3.5-3.9 grade point average), and 39 recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA for the semester. The number of 4.0 students climbed to 47 in the spring.

The spring semester also saw 224 OSU athletes named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll after 231 made the list for the fall of 2006.

Eight OSU teams (men’s cross country, women’s cross country, soccer, softball, women’s tennis, wrestling, and men’s and women’s track and field) were selected as All-Academic Teams for their classroom work.

Three OSU student-athletes — Darnell Smith of football, Lauren Simmons of women’s tennis and Destanie Sykes of women’s basketball — were named to the OSU Alumni Association’s outstanding seniors list for the 2006-07 school year.

OSU also had 17 student-athletes selected as Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholars. With 33 total selections, OSU has been seventh nationally in that category for the past two seasons and tops the Big 12.