The 2025-26 Big 12 Athlete of the Year nominees will be featured in alphabetical order by school starting Monday, July 13, through Wednesday, July 22, at 11 a.m. CT and 2 p.m. CT.
Each institution nominated one male and one female athlete of any classification who competed for their institution during the 2025-26 school year. Student-athletes were required to be in good academic standing and must have participated in a league-sponsored sport.
The 16 full-member institutions that competed during the 2025-26 academic year are eligible.
The winners will be announced Thursday, July 23. Stay tuned to Big12Sports.com and the league’s social media platforms to see the remaining candidates.
This afternoon’s featured candidates are Cincinnati’s Juliette Laracuente-Huebner and Quinton Coats.
Cincinnati Female Athlete of the Year Candidate
Juliette Laracuente-Huebner, Track & Field
Jr., Marengo, Ohio
Accomplishments
- 2026 Bob Bowlsby Award recipient, Big 12 Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Big 12 champion in both the women's pentathlon and heptathlon.
- First Team All-American indoors and outdoors, including a runner-up finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
- Set multiple school records during the 2025-26 season, including marks in the indoor pentathlon (4,442 points) and outdoor heptathlon (6,086 points).
- Earned a bachelor’s degree in speech-language-hearing sciences with a 4.0 GPA and multiple academic honors, including the Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award.
Cincinnati Male Athlete of the Year Candidate
Quinton Coats, Baseball
So., Olathe, Kan.
Accomplishments
- Named an All-American by multiple organizations and finished as a Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist after earning First Team All-Big 12 honors.
- Set program single-season records in home runs (28) and total bases (183) while tying the single-season RBI program record (79).
- Ranked among the national leaders in home runs, total bases and RBIs while hitting .339 with a .738 slugging percentage.
- Helped lead Cincinnati to its second consecutive NCAA Regional appearance, marking the first time in program history that UC has advanced to a Regional in back-to-back years.
The full list of nominees for each school can be found below.
2025-26 Big 12 Athletes of the Year Nominees
Arizona - Sydney Stewart and Jay Friend
Arizona State - Kenzie Brown and Jonny Kulow
Baylor - Tyler Isgrig and Devin Badenhorst
BYU - Jane Hedengren and AJ Dybantsa
UCF - Sierra Humphreys and Themus Fulks
Cincinnati - Juliette Laracuente-Huebner and Quinton Coats