UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Led by 29 students who earned perfect 4.0 grade point averages, the Penn State Athletics students had 185 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars in the 2020-21 academic year, breaking the previous school record of 144 in 2019-20.
The Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award is presented to student-athletes who have recorded a grade-point average of 3.7 or higher during the previous academic year.
Penn State's six highest Big Ten Distinguished Scholar totals have come in the past six years, increasing 168 percent since the 2014-15 academic year (69 to 185). The 29 Nittany Lion students earning a 4.0 during the 2020-21 academic year surpasses last year's total of 26 perfect GPAs.
The athletic department's academic success included 446 student-athletes earning Academic All-Big Ten honors and 105 Nittany Lions who graduated following the spring semester.
Penn State Big Ten Distinguished Scholar totals since 2014-15:
2020-21: 185 (school record)
2019-20: 144
2018-19: 117
2017-18: 90
2016-17: 97
2015-16: 81
2014-15: 69
The 29 Nittany Lions who posted perfect 4.0 GPAs during the 2020-21 academic year were: Kyle McCloskey (men's basketball), Jack Baldwin (men's gymnastics), Kathryn Rankin (women's hockey), Carly Hart (women's swimming), Keegen Ness (men's soccer), Callum Pritchatt (men's soccer), Alex Stevenson (men's soccer), Kerry Abello (women's soccer), Jordan Canniff (women's soccer), Rachel Wasserman (women's soccer), Molly Russell (women's volleyball), Madison Ledwith (women's swimming), Marie Schobel (women's swimming), Stephanie Szekely (women's swimming), Mathilde Delavallade (women's golf), Isha Dhruva (women's golf), Lauren Freyvogel (women's golf), Sarah Willis (women's golf), Claire Swedberg (softball), Mark Porter (men's track & field), Payton Sewall (men's track & field), Makenna Krebs (women's track & field), Jean Starr (women's track & field), Victoria Tachinski (women's track & field/cross country), Mary Muldoon (women's lacrosse), Regan Nealon (women's lacrosse), Rachel Spilker (women's lacrosse), Amy Bladon (women's gymnastics) and Alissa Bonsall (women's gymnastics).
A total of 27 of Penn State teams had at least one Big Ten Distinguished Scholar (men's and women's indoor and outdoor track & field are combined).
Russ Mushinsky, Director of the Morgan Academic Center, reported that the women's swimming and diving team led all Penn State squads with 18 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars. Women's track & field/cross country accounted for 17 honorees for second most among Penn State programs. The track & field/cross country program had 29 total honorees with 12 students from the men's program honored by the conference. The women's lacrosse (15), field hockey (11), women's soccer (11) and football (10) programs all had double-digit honorees.
The school record of 185 honorees boosts Penn State to a total of 1,139 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars since the program was established by the Big Ten Faculty Representatives in 2008-09 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program.
Similar to the Academic All-Big Ten honor, Distinguished Scholar Award recipients must be in at least their second academic year at their institution. The Distinguished Scholar Award encompasses only students with a minimum GPA of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year, excluding summer school.
The complete list of Big Ten Distinguished Scholars is available here (PDF).
-Penn State-