12:33 pm | June 25, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:
IRVING, Texas – David Montgomery (Iowa State football), Lauren Cox (Baylor women’s basketball) and the Kansas State rowing team have been selected as the 2018-19 Big 12 Sportspersons of the Year, the Conference announced.
The Sportsperson of the Year Awards began in 2000-01 to annually recognize student-athletes who displayed an extraordinary degree of sportsmanship, community service and academic achievement. This year’s winners were selected by a media panel.
Montgomery became the fourth Cyclone in school history to earn All-America honors in multiple seasons. The running back started in 11 of 12 games played, ranking third in the Big 12 and 23rd nationally in rushing yards per game (101.3). The junior from Cincinnati broke the 1,000-yard rushing barrier for the second consecutive year (1,216) and became the eighth Cyclone with multiple 1,000-yard seasons. In April, Montgomery was taken in the third round as the 73rd pick in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears.
In addition to his athletic success, Montgomery excelled in his role as a leader for Iowa State. Since arriving at ISU, Montgomery would send his brother Maceo, who is in prison, $100 every two weeks to take care of his family needs. Montgomery’s willingness to give back and help others was captured in his relationship with Hunter Erb. Hunter, who is six years old, suffers from pulmonary vein stenosis. Montgomery took Hunter under his wing and made weekly visits, inviting him to practices and never missing a hospital visit. Additionally, Montgomery was active in the Ames community by participating in hospital visits, elementary school read-a-thons and numerous civic activities.
The Academic All-Big 12 Second Team honoree is on track to graduate from Iowa State with a degree in adult and family services.
Cox averaged 13.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game for the National Champion Lady Bears last season. Cox became one of the best defensive players in the nation and just the third player since 2006 to win Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors in multiple seasons. The junior from Flower Mound, Texas, averaged 13.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per contest in the NCAA Championship during Baylor’s storybook run to the national championship. She helped guide BU to its ninth-consecutive regular-season Big 12 title and the Lady Bears’ 10th Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship crown.
As a team captain this past season, Cox has been visibly active in the community, especially when it comes to promoting Type 1 Diabetes awareness. Cox, who has diabetes, has been a rising voice to help provide the public more information about the condition. She participated in an on-court lengthy meet and greet with fans suffering from Type 1 Diabetes last season and also took part in the Waco Stomp Out Diabetes Walk. She has visited nursing homes in the Waco area and has been a speaker at Camp Success, which is a summer program that provides treatment to children with language-based reading impairments.
Cox’s academic success is just as impressive as she was tabbed the NCAA Elite 90 Award winner for women’s basketball in 2019. The communications studies major is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 honoree and has been named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll six times.
The K-State women’s rowing team overcame a great deal of adversity last season after the passing of senior coxswain Samantha Scott on October 27, 2018. The Wildcats dedicated their season to Scott and finished third at the 2019 Big 12 Championship, earning medals in two Big 12 events for the second-best finish in program history. The team also swept Kansas in the Sunflower Showdown, won five medals at the SIRA Championships and four medals at the Sunshine State Invitational. Scott, who was a four-year member of the rowing team, was an instrumental leader and the team’s top coxswain going into the season. She was remembered with the first dedication and naming of a K-State boat in program history.
Despite the difficulties of losing a teammate, the team continued its commitment to training, their education and serving the community. With K-State Athletics service work, rowing team members charted 414 hours of community service, actively led and facilitated work with initiatives such as the Cats in the Classroom, Cats for Cans, Cats Across Continents, Tipoff for TP and National Girls and Women in Sports Day among others.
Academically, 25 individuals were Academic All-Big 12 honorees and two were awarded the 2019 Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award. Forty-eight K-State rowers were named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, while 12 earned a 4.0 GPA.
Montgomery is just the second Iowa State student-athlete to win this award, joining 2002 recipient Cael Sanderson. Cox is the sixth Baylor honoree and third women’s basketball player to earn the accolade. Cox and Montgomery were both part of the Big 12 Champions for Life initiative. The Wildcats rowing squad is the first team and fourth from K-State to earn the Sportsperson of the Year designation.
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