• Bears sweep Big 12 Athlete of the Year honors for 2nd time in 3 years

    Bryce Petty and Odyssey Sims

    For the second time in three years, Baylor has swept the Big 12 Athlete of the Year honors. Bryce Petty was named Male Athlete of the Year, while Odyssey Sims was the league’s Female Athlete of the Year.

    To put Baylor’s sweep in perspective:

    • Baylor is the first Big 12 school to sweep both titles, have both student-athletes move on, then sweep again within two years with two different student-athletes. In 2012, it was Robert Griffin III and Brittney Griner that were so honored; now that RG3 and BG are all-stars in the NFL and WNBA, Petty and Sims stepped forward to fill their shoes.
    • In the Big 12 Conference’s nearly 20-year history, the Athlete of the Year titles have been swept just five times; Texas has done it three times (the last in 2006), Baylor has done in twice. No other school has accomplished the feat; not Kansas, not Nebraska, not Oklahoma, not Texas A&M — just the Longhorns and Bears.
    • Reinforcing the notion of Baylor’s recent rise, as of three years ago, the Bears had never won either award. Now, only the Longhorns, Sooners and Huskers have more Big 12 Athlete of the Year honors than Baylor’s four.
    • Nationwide, no major-conference school has swept its conference’s Athlete of the Year honors even once in the last three years — much less twice.

    Sic ’em, Bryce, Odyssey and Baylor athletics!