by staff–15 Apr ’16
After wrapping up a stellar career on the mat last month senior Tanner Harms added another academic honor on Thursday being named Winter Scholar-Athlete by the Big 12 Conference. He was one of eight student-athletes to achieve the honor.
“This is a great honor and he has been a great representative of our program,” UW head coach Mark Branch said. “This sums up his career as a total package as a student-athlete. We are very excited that he has chosen to go to graduate school here at the University of Wyoming as he will be a huge asset to our program.”
Harms is no stranger to academic accomplishments. He named First-Team Academic All-Big 12 on March 3. It was the fourth Academic All-Conference honor for Harms in his career after being a three-time winner in the Western Wrestling Conference. Last season, Harms became the 17th Cowboy in school history to be named All-Academic by the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
On the mat, Harms was a two-time NCAA Qualifier and finished his career with a 63-30 record with 18 falls including two at the NCAA Championship this season. He finished his senior campaign with a 22-6 record and helped lead the Pokes to their best finish at the NCAA Championship since 1996, as the Pokes finished 18th with 24.5 points. Harms finished second at the 2016 Big 12 Championship becoming the first Cowboy to wrestle in the conference final.
The Big 12 Conference established its Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2012-13. A recipient is named in each of the Conference’s sponsored sports. Each Big 12 institution nominates one individual per sport with the winners selected by a vote of the league’s head coaches for that sport.
Scholar-Athlete of the Year nomination criteria includes:
∙ must be a junior or senior (athletic and academic standing)
∙ cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher
∙ participation in at least 60 percent of the team’s scheduled contests
∙ minimum of one year in residence at the institution
