WVU’s Jordan Harrison and Gavin Kelly nominated for Big 12 Athlete of the Year

Women’s basketball standout Jordan Harrison and baseball star Gavin Kelly are West Virginia’s nominations for Big 12 Athlete of the Year, the conference revealed Wednesday afternoon.

Each Big 12 school nominated one male and one female athlete from any sport that competed in 2025-26. The winners will be announced on Thursday.

Harrison, the 2026 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, completed her WVU career sixth in program history with 499 career assists and seventh in program history with 277 career steals. As a senior, Harrison averaged a career-high 13.9 points per game, 5.2 assists per game and 3.1 steals per game in 2025-26. She led the Mountaineers to a conference tournament championship and a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Kelly, a sophomore second baseman/catcher, led WVU hitters in numerous categories this year, pacing the team in average (.382), runs scored (70), hits (96), home runs (19), runs batted in (63), OPS (1.202), and other metrics. The sophomore super-utility player’s 19 long balls are the most by any player in a single season in program history. He helped the Mountaineers host and win the first-ever Morgantown Super-Regional, punching WVU’s ticket to its first-ever College World Series.

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