Seven Huskers earned academic All-Big 12 honors, the Big 12 Conference announced on Wednesday. First-team selections included senior Alex Hupp, juniors Julie Brechtel, Heidi Foland and Robin Mackin and sophomores Ashley Hagemann and Nikki Haget. Sophomore Madison Drake earned a spot on the second team, while Mackin made the list with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.
The six first-team selections tied for Nebraska’s highest total since 2002, while the seven overall selections tied for the most since 1999. Hupp, Brechtel and Foland were all honored for the second straight season, while Drake, Hagemann, Haget and Mackin all earned academic All-Big 12 honors in their first season of eligibility for the award.
The academic All-Big 12 announcement continues a successful season in the classroom for the Huskers. Last week, five Huskers made the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VII first team, including three first-team selections. Nebraska's five selections were two more than any other school in the district, while the Huskers were the only team to have more than one player selected to the first team. The three first-team selections - Brechtel, Foland and Mackin - are all eligible to add to the softball program's nation-leading total of 26 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.
The seven academic All-Big 12 honorees and the rest of the Huskers face 19th-ranked Texas A&M on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in the first round of the Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City.