Cepero Named Big 12 Conference Female Athlete of the Year

Dallas -- Nebraska volleyball player Greichaly Cepero and Oklahoma football standout Josh Heupel have been named the fifth female and male Big 12 Conference Athletes of the Year, the league office announced Wednesday.

Female and male athletes of the year are chosen by a panel of athletic administrators from each conference institution and media from each schools region. One female and one male student-athlete per school was nominated by the directors of athletics from each institution. The selections were based upon the 2000-01 athletic performance and academic achievement with citizenship as a tiebreaker.

Using perhaps the finest all-around game in the nation, Cepero guided the Huskers to a No. 1 ranking, a 34-0 record and a .312 hitting percentage (second in the nation) in her first season at the position. For the season, Cepero averaged 11.90 assists, 2.14 digs, 1.48 blocks and 1.83 kills per game. Eight Huskers hit .308 or better under the direction of Cepero.

Cepero was the only setter ranked in the top 10 of three different Big 12 categories during the regular season. She was 10th in hitting percentage, ninth in assists per game and third in blocks per game. Unique because of her blocking ability, Cepero was the only setter in the country to finish the season ranked among the nations top 20 in blocking (19th). Cepero led Nebraska in solo blocks with 28 and was responsible for 34 percent of the Huskers blocks (161 of 477.5).

A talented basketball player as well, Cepero was a starting forward in her first season as a scholarship basketball player for the Nebraska womens basketball team, averaging 6.1 points per game.

The Big 12 Conference honor is the latest in a long list of awards for Cepero. In two years at Nebraska, Cepero has been named the AVCA Division I Player of the Year, the 2000 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, the Honda Award winner for volleyball, the NCAA Central Regional MVP, the 1999 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, a two-time First-Team all-Big 12 selection, a first-team Verizon Academic All-District selection and a two-time Big 12 Player-of-the-Week selection.

Cepero won the Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year from over a solid group of womens nominees. Other 2000-01 Big 12 female student-athletes nominated included Baylors Damielle Crockrom (basketball), Colorados Kara Grgas-Wheeler (cross country/track), Iowa States Gina Curtis (track), Kansas Andrea Bulat (track), Kansas States Austra Skujyte (track), Missouris Amanda Lassiter (basketball), Oklahomas Stacy Dales (basketball), Oklahoma States Maria Boden (golf), Texas A&Ms Colleen Lanne (swimming), and Texas Techs Janelle Jones (volleyball).

Cepero is the first non-University of Texas student-athlete to receive the female Big 12 honor. She joins four Texas honorees for the Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year- track standout Nanceen Perry, the 1997 winner, diver Vera Ilyina in 1998, and track star Suziann Reid in 1999, and volleyball/track standout Erin Aldrich last year. Cepero is the seventh student-athlete from NU to earn conference female athlete of the year honors, dating back to trackster Merlene Otteys Big Eight Conference Athlete-of-the-Year accolades in 1984.

Heupel, who guided the Sooners to a 13-0 record and their first national title since 1985, won this years award among another great class of nominees. Other male student-athletes nominated included Baylors Kelly Shoppach (baseball), Colorados Jorge Torres (cross country/track), Iowa States Cael Sanderson (wrestling), Kansas Nick Collison (basketball), Kansas States Jonathan Beasley (football), Missouris Justin Smith (football), Nebraskas Shane Komine (baseball), Oklahoma States Mark Munoz (wrestling), Texas Nate Dusing (swimming), Texas A&Ms Bashir Ramzy (track), and Texas Techs Robert Monroe (football).

Heupel is the fifth honoree from the fifth different school for the Big 12 male honor. He joins Kansas basketball star and 1997 honoree Jacque Vaughn, Nebraska football standout Grant Wistrom in 1998, Texas Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams in 1999 and Oklahoma State golf phenom Charles Howell last year on the league male athlete-of-the-year honors list. Heupel is the fifth Oklahoma Sooner to earn the conferences male athlete of the year honor and first since gymnast Bart Connor was the Big Eight Male Athlete of the Year in 1981.