TicketsCINCINNATI — University of Cincinnati track and field standout Juliette Laracuente-Huebner has been named the Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year, the conference announced on Thursday.
The junior from Marengo, Ohio, carries a perfect 4.0 grade-point average while majoring in Speech-Language Hearing Sciences. The Scholar Athlete of the Year award recognizes a student-athlete who excels in both athletic competition and academic achievement.
The honor caps a historic year in the Big 12 for Laracuente-Huebner, who swept both the indoor and outdoor Big 12 multi-event titles and earned First Team All-America recognition at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Indoors, Laracuente-Huebner defended her Big 12 pentathlon title and broke her own school record in the process, finishing with 4,437 points — second-best in the nation during the indoor season and two points off the conference championship record. She also set school records in the long jump and 60-meter hurdles during the season.
At the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., Laracuente-Huebner broke her school record a second time, totaling 4,442 points to finish third and claim First Team All-America honors. The finish marked a dramatic improvement from the previous year, when she missed the All-America cut by one point and one place.
She became the first Cincinnati athlete to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the pentathlon since Jasmine Cotten did so in 2012.
Outdoors, Laracuente-Huebner claimed the heptathlon title at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Tucson, Ariz., totaling a school-record 6,086 points to edge Annie Molenhouse of Oklahoma State by 81 points. She won the long jump on the meet's final day and posted a personal-best javelin throw of 37.73m to secure the conference crown after entering Day 2 in second place.
Laracuente-Huebner now holds four career All-America honors between the indoor and outdoor seasons and will look to add to that total at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The 2026 championships are scheduled for June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
// FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
For all the latest information on Cincinnati Track and Field/Cross Country, please visit GoBEARCATS.com. and follow @GoBearcatsTFXC on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.