TEMPE – Kenzie Brown (Softball) and Jonny Kulow (Men’s Swimming) will serve as Sun Devil Athletics’ 2025-26 Big 12 Athlete of the Year nominees. The honor marks the second consecutive year Brown is Arizona State’s Female Athlete of the Year nominee, while Kulow follows Cam Skattebo, who was the Sun Devils’ Male Athlete of the Year candidate in 2024-25.
Each institution nominates one male and one female student-athlete who competed for their institution during the 2025-26 academic year, regardless of classification. The 16 full-member institutions that competed during the 2025-26 academic year are eligible.
The winners will be announced on Thursday, July 23.
Arizona State Female Athlete of the Year candidate
Kenzie Brown, Softball
Sr., Lake City, Ill.
In her final season in the Sun Devil Maroon and Gold, Brown tossed a team-best 168.0 innings in 36 pitching appearances en route to an 18-8 record and a 2.29 ERA to pair with 266 strikeouts and a .181 opponent batting average.
Brown was a three-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Week recipient, a Second Team All-American (NFCA, Softball America and D1Softball), as well as a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honoree after graduating cum laude with a 3.66 GPA in Interdisciplinary Studies.
She was also an All-Big 12 First Team selection and selected as the 2026 Big 12 Softball Tournament Most Valuable Player after leading the Sun Devils to their first conference title since joining the league.
Brown was also the first student-athlete in program history to be selected as a unanimous national pitcher of the week (NFCA, Softball America and D1Softball) when she was selected on April 21.
Arizona State Male Athlete of the Year candidate
Jonny Kulow, Men’s Swimming
Sr., Lander, Wyo.
For as much success as Kulow found inside the pool this year, the Wyoming native accomplished just as much – if not more – in the classroom.
Kulow, who won a national championship in the 200 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 free relay this season, was recently announced as the Big 12 Conference’s Bob Bowlsby Award winner, which recognizes student-athletes who represent the Big 12 for their leadership and excellence on and off the competition surface. The honor is the highest individual accolade any student-athlete can earn from the league office. He graduated summa cum laude (4.00 GPA) with a B.S. in medical microbiology, while also earning the NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete Award.
Over the course of his four-year Sun Devil career, Kulow is a 22-time All-American, an 8-time Big 12 champion, and a three-time Academic All-American.
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