June 5, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Standout student-athletes Petra Januskova (women's tennis; Ottawa, Canada) and John Urschel (football; Williamsville, N.Y.) have been selected Penn State's 2012-13 recipients of the Big Ten Medal of Honor.
The conference's most prestigious award, the Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work."
The Big Ten Medal of Honor was the first award in intercollegiate athletics to demonstrate support for the educational emphasis placed on athletics. It was acclaimed throughout the nation, and in particular by the NCAA "as one of the significant gestures yet made in college sports." The Big Ten Medal of Honor was expanded in 1982 to include one female student-athlete from each institution. In 2014, the conference will celebrate the 100th anniversary of this prestigious award.
Januskova capped her record-setting career as a Nittany Lion with a fantastic senior season. She won the ITA Atlantic Regional Singles Championship in the fall and competed in the ITA/Riviera All-American Championships as well as being selected to compete in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship, featuring the nation's top 32 players.
This spring, Januskova led the Nittany Lions to one of their most successful seasons in program history. She finished the season with a 27-9 singles record including a 16-5 record in dual matches. She finished her career with 92 singles victories, second all-time in program history behind only Olga Novikova's 95. In doubles play Januskova posted a 19-10 record and competed in the NCAA Doubles Tournament.
Januskova was named Penn State's 2012-13 Ernest B. McCoy Award female winner. She was named ITA Atlantic Region Senior of the Year and was a unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten first-team for the second consecutive year and third time of her career. Januskova was ranked as high as No. 27 in the singles poll this season and is ranked No. 21 in the doubles poll.
Urschel |
Urschel enters his fifth-year senior season as arguably college football's premier student-athlete. Urschel was selected a 2012 first-team All-Big Ten guard. He was instrumental in helping the Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten in total offense (437.0 ypg) in conference games and rank second in scoring offense (32.6 ppg) and second in pass offense (283.1 ypg) against Big Ten foes.
A three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Urschel graduated with a 4.0 grade-point average in mathematics in May 2012, less than three years after enrolling at Penn State. He earned his master's degree in math in May 2013, maintaining his 4.0 GPA. This summer, Urschel will begin working on a master's in math education. Urschel was a 2012 first-team Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American and will be among the top candidates for the National Football Foundation's William V. Campbell Trophy this fall. The former Canisius High School standout was named Penn State's 2012-13 Ernest B. McCoy Award male winner.
During the 2013 spring semester, Urschel taught a section of Math 041 - Trigonometry and Analytic Geometry - three days a week to Penn State undergraduate students in addition to his own academic work, research and football responsibilities. Urschel also had a paper published in the journal, Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. The title of the paper was "Instabilities of the Sun-Jupiter-Asteroid Three Body Problem."
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