Cooke Named Big 12 Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year

AMES, Iowa – The Big 12 Conference announced its Winter Scholar-Athletes of the Year Tuesday afternoon. Junior Laura Cooke was named the 2022 Big 12 Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year and became the sixth gymnast in program history to receive the honor.

The Norwich, England native competed on bars in all 13 meets this season and floor in 11 meets. She earned a career-high 9.900 on floor at the first two home meets against Nebraska and West Virginia. Cooke also saw a personal-best 9.900 on bars at the GymQuarters Invitational.

Cooke helped the Cyclones to their 14^th NCAA Regional in the last 15 seasons, including a win over Western Michigan in the First Round.

Cooke, who is a 3.97 student in Kinesiology and Health with a minor in Psychology, is also a two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team member and a 2020 WCGA Scholastic All-American.

Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year
The Big 12 Conference established its Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2012-13. A recipient is named in each conference-sponsored sport. Every Big 12 institution nominates one individual per sport with the winners selected by a vote of the league head coaches for that sport, who are not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes. Scholar-Athlete of the Year nominees must be a junior or senior (athletic and academic standing), have a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher, participate in at least 20 percent of the team's scheduled contests and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution.