<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Aptos;
panose-1:2 11 0 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Impact;
panose-1:2 11 8 6 3 9 2 5 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}
h1
{mso-style-link:"Heading 1 Char";
margin:0in;
text-align:justify;
page-break-after:avoid;
layout-grid-mode:char;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Impact",sans-serif;
font-weight:normal;
text-decoration:underline;}
h2
{mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char";
margin:0in;
text-align:center;
page-break-after:avoid;
layout-grid-mode:char;
font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Impact",sans-serif;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:italic;}
p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText
{mso-style-link:"Body Text Char";
margin:0in;
text-align:justify;
layout-grid-mode:char;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#467886;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
span.Heading1Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 1 Char";
mso-style-link:"Heading 1";
font-family:"Impact",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:none;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.Heading2Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-link:"Heading 2";
font-family:"Impact",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:none;
font-style:italic;}
span.BodyTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Body Text Char";
mso-style-link:"Body Text";
font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:none;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:11.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style>
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<h1 align="right" style="text-align:right"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;text-decoration:none">BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – July 3, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></b></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2 align="left" style="text-align:left"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;font-style:normal">Baylor MGOLF’s Keefer Named Scholar-Athlete of The Year for a Third-Straight Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></h2>
<h2 align="left" style="text-align:left"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;font-style:normal">The Bear is the third athlete in conference history to win the award three times<o:p></o:p></span></b></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">For more information, contact:
</span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Matt Roberts, 254-227-2280, </span><a href="mailto:WM_Roberts@Baylor.edu"><span style="font-size:9.0pt">WM_Roberts@Baylor.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">WACO, Texas – </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">The Big 12</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">
</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">Conference announced</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">
</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">Baylor men’s golfer Johnny Keefer as the Big 12’s Men’s Golf Scholar Athlete of the Year for a third year in a row on Wednesday, the third athlete
in conference history to claim the award three times.</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">With Keefer’s third selection, BU men's golf has now claimed the Men's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year award in five of the last eight
seasons. He joins Matthew Perrine (2017) and Colin Kober (2019), contributing to Baylor's 32 scholar-athletes of the year, which is second-most in the Big 12.
<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">The men's golf program now has five Big 12 scholar-athletes of the year, surpassing women's golf and baseball (4) for the most winners
among Baylor programs. <o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">An accounting major from San Antonio, Texas, Keefer enjoyed another successful season, earning second-team All-America honors from the
Golf Coaches Association of America and third-team honors from Golfweek, becoming the first player in program history to be named an All-American in three different seasons. A two-time All-Big 12 selection, he is one of two players in program history to be
named Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year and All-Big 12 in the same season, and he has now done it on two occasions (2022 and 2024).<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">This season, he joined Jimmy Walker, Ryan Baca and Kyle Jones as the only BU players to make multiple All-Big 12 teams.
</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">He also re-wrote the Baylor history books this season, passing PGA Tour member and major champion Jimmy Walker for BU's career stroke-average mark with a 71.45. In the run up to a second-straight
NCAA Championship appearance in 2023-24, he established the Bears’ 54-hole scoring record with a 12-under 198 at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional. Keefer’s second-round 64 in Chapel Hill ranks as the fourth-best single-round in BU history and tied for the lowest
postseason round in program history. <strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">His stellar senior season saw him</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> finish outside the top 25 just once while
carding a team-leading two top-5s, five top-10s and 10 top-25s. Additionally, he paced Baylor in below-par percentage (23.2%), par-or-better percentage (83.8%), total birdies (139), par-4 scoring average (4.02) and par-5 scoring average (4.60).
<strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">The Big 12 Conference established its Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2012-13. A recipient is named in each conference-sponsored sport.
Every Big 12 institution nominates one individual per sport, with the winners selected by the league head coaches for that sport, who are not allowed to vote for their student-athletes. Scholar-Athlete of the Year nominees must be a junior or senior (athletic
and academic standing), have a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher, participate in at least 20 percent of the team's scheduled contests and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution.</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">
</span></strong><strong><span style="color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal">For more information on Baylor Men’s Golf, follow @BaylorMGolf on X, Instagram and Facebook.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white;font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">BAYLOR'S BIG 12 SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR</span></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Baseball – Doug Ashby (2014), Logan Brown (2015), Richard Cunningham (2017), Kyle Hill (2019)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Equestrian – Rachel Van Allen (2018), Rachael Davis (2020), Maddie Vorhies (2024)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Football – </span>
<a href="https://baylorbears.com/staff.aspx?staff=26"><span style="color:black;background:white;text-decoration:none">Nick Florence</span></a><span style="color:black;background:white"> (2012), Dillon Doyle (2022)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Men's Basketball – Freddie Gillespie (2020), Jared Butler (2021)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Men's Golf – Matthew Perrine (2017), Colin Kober (2019),
<b>Johnny Keefer (2022, 2023 and 2024)</b></span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Men's Tennis – Patrick Pradella (2014), Jimmy Bendeck (2019)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Men's XC – Blake Niccum (2012), Jonathan Tijerina (2014)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Soccer – Dana Larsen (2012), Precious Akanyirige (2017)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Softball – Kathy Shelton (2013), Heather Stearns (2015)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Volleyball – Shelly (Fanning) Stafford (2018 & 2019)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Women's Golf – Laura Lonardi (2015 & 2016), </span><a href="https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10292"><span style="color:black;background:white;text-decoration:none">Elodie Chapelet</span></a><span style="color:black;background:white"> (2021),
Gurleen Kaur (2022)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Women's Tennis – Blair Shankle (2017)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Women's XC – Lindsey Bradley (2017)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#666666;background:white"> </span><span style="color:black;background:white"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="color:black;background:white">BIG 12 SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR BY SCHOOL</span></u></b><span style="color:black;background:white"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Iowa State- 39<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Baylor-32<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Kansas State-28<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">West Virginia-26<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Oklahoma State-28<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Kansas-19<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">TCU-18<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Texas Tech-15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Denver-3<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">North Dakota State-2<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Northern Colorado-1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">South Dakota State-1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Tennessee-1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Alabama- 1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">BYU- 2<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Cincinnati- 1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Houston- 1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">UCF- 1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="center" style="text-align:center"><a href="http://www.BaylorBears.com"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif">www.BaylorBears.com</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Matt Roberts | Associate Director of Athletic Communications (MBB/MGOLF/ WGOLF) <br>
Department of Athletics | Baylor University<br>
C: 254-227-2280</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#212121;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1D1D1D;mso-ligatures:none"><img border="0" width="152" height="43" style="width:1.5833in;height:.4479in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01DACC84.62E11B00" alt="signature_339785252"></span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#212121;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>