June 20, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State student athletes Teddy Chase (women's soccer) and James Chakey (men's lacrosse) have been selected as 2016 Outstanding Sportsmanship Award Winners, as presented by the Big Ten Conference.
Chase and Chakey were both chosen from a group of more than 350 students honored throughout the academic year who were voted as Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honorees for their respective program.
Chase, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree (2014-15), was a four-year member of the Penn State women's soccer team. Chase recently received the 2015 Rodney Swineford Award, which honors the player who best epitomizes the values of Penn State women's soccer.
During her time with the Nittany Lion women's soccer program, Chase and Penn State advanced to the College Cup Final twice and brought home the first national title in program history on Dec. 6, 2015, with a 1-0 victory over Duke.
Chakey recently closed out a four year career for the Nittany Lions, helping Penn State to its second consecutive appearance in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. He played in all 15 games during the 2016 season, netting his first collegiate goal in the season-opener against Robert Morris, while also adding a career-high two assists. He matched a career-high mark with four ground balls in the OT win against then-No. 8 Harvard and posted two ground balls and one caused turnover in the upset victory against then-No. 1 Denver this season.
Off the field, Chakey serves on the Nittany Lion men's lacrosse's leadership council and is also actively involved in Penn State's Student-Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB). In addition to being named a recipient of Penn State's "True Grit" Award at The Nittany's this spring, Chakey was also named one of 10 finalists for the Yeardley Reynolds Love Unsung Hero Award, presented by the One Love Foundation.
Combining the Sportsmanship Award selections of each varsity sports team on every Big Ten campus, just two Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners were selected from each institution. All of the Sportsmanship Award winners have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. All honorees are also in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.