Texas Tech University Athletics
Speight Named Big 12 Spring Scholar-Athlete of the Year
June 23, 2015 | Academics
Montene Speight has been named the Big 12 Track & Field Spring Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
June 23, 2015
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Montene Speight has been named the Big 12 Track & Field Spring Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as announced Tuesday by the conference office.
This is yet another award for Speight in a string of recent awards that honor student-athletes for both their performance on the track and in the classroom. She is the first Texas Tech track & field athlete to receive this award.
The Big 12 Conference established its Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2012-13. A Scholar-Athlete of the Year 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.
Scholar-Athlete of the Year nomination criteria includes:
- must be a junior or senior (athletic and academic standing)
- cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher
- participation in at least 60 percent of the team's scheduled contests
- minimum of one year in residence at the institution
Speight, who took home second team All-American honors in the 400 meter dash, has already been named to a Capital One Academic All-District Team this season. She has carried a cumulative 4.0 GPA during her time at Tech, majoring in political science.
Speight also became the first Texas Tech track & field student-athlete in history to receive the prestigious NCAA Elite 89 Award, doing so at this year's NCAA Outdoor Championships. The Elite 89 Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 89 championships.
The senior from St. Louis, Mo., has five All-Big 12 honors to her credit in 2015, and was already named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team.
Players Mentioned
