West Texas A&M hoops standouts Tyler Cooper and Emily Brister were chosen as the 2008 Lone Star Conference Fred Jacoby Academic Athletes of the Year.  The awards were announced Wednesday following a vote of the league's sports information directors.

      WTAMU's Cooper and Brister are the first recipients of the new award bearing the name of the late Jacoby, the long-time LSC commissioner who passed away in March.  The nominees included the Academic Player of the Year in each sport as selected during the year.

      Cooper earned Male Academic Athlete of the Year honors ahead of Buffs football star Keith Null, East Central cross country standout John Sutrick and Abilene Christian track & field star Camille Vandendriessche.  Brister received the most votes for LSC top female academic athlete followed by Southwestern Oklahoma cross country and volleyball stars, Rachel Ingram and Paula Harry, respectively.

      After a suburb career with WTAMU both on the court and in the classroom, Cooper recently received a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.  The Amarillo, Texas, native, garnered LSC Academic Player of the Year honors each of the last three seasons, while also nabbing honorable mention All-LSC accolades following his junior and senior campaigns.

      Additionally this season, Cooper was selected as a second team Academic All-American by ESPN the Magazine and CoSIDA. Following graduation, Cooper plans to attend medical school at Texas Tech University.

      The LSC South Division Women's Basketball Academic Player of the Year for the second straight year, Brister also earned her third consecutive conference Female Athlete of the Year award in 2008 after guiding the Lady Buffs to a 26-5 record, LSC championship and the NCAA Division II South Central regional quarterfinals.

      Brister, who will be a senior next season, led the LSC in scoring (21.8) and steals (95), while pacing WTAMU in just about every category. She became the Lady Buffs all-time leading scorer this year and also the first WTAMU basketball player, male or female, to score 2,000 career points in a season. She now has 2,106 career points - 664 shy of all-time LSC leading scorer Claudia Schleyer of ACU.

      In 2007-08, she was named the LSC South Division Player of the Year for the third straight time and LSC Championship MVP. Additionally, Brister was tabbed the Daktronics South Central Region Player of the Year for the second straight season, Daktronics first team All-America and honorable mention All-America by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), and first team Academic All-America by ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA.

LSC MALE ACADEMIC ATHLETE OF YEAR (Name, School, Sport, Points):  Tyler Cooper, West Texas A&M, basketball, 29; Keith Null, West Texas A&M, football, 14; John Sutrick, East Central, cross country, 11; Camille Vandendriessche, Abilene Christian, track & field, 11; Peter Svajlen, Cameron, golf, 9; Cliff Eddings, Southeastern Oklahoma, football, 6; Bradley Durst, Angelo State, Baseball, 5; Tyler Murphy, Midwestern State, soccer, 3; Ryan Hudson, Abilene Christian, tennis, 2.

LSC FEMALE ACADEMIC ATHLETE OF YEAR (Name, School, Sport, Points):  Emily Brister, West Texas A&M, basketball, 31; Rachel Ingram, Southwestern Oklahoma, cross country, 13; Paula Harry, Southwestern Oklahoma, volleyball, 11; Alli Blake, Central Oklahoma, softball, 10; Meagan Brown, Abilene Christian, tennis, 8; Carly Fischer, Central Oklahoma, soccer, 7; Shraddhanjali Singh, Tarleton State, golf, 4; Lindsey Sams, Northeastern State, basketball, 3; Kim McDonald, Abilene Christian, softball, 3; Cassidy Pillow, Central Oklahoma, basketball, 0; Cassidi Porter, Tarleton State, track & field, 0.