UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State records its fourth-highest spring Academic All-Big Ten total with 208 student-athletes earning a 3.0 or higher GPA. The highest spring totals came in 2021, 2022 and 2023 when the Nittany Lions collected 226, 224 and 210, respectively.
Penn State Athletics programs registered 116 fall honorees and 102 winter honorees to total 426 selections throughout the 2023-24 academic year.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, students must be on a varsity team, as verified by being on the official squad list, who have been enrolled full-time at the institution for a minimum of 12 months and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
Among those on the list of spring Academic All-Big Ten honorees is men's lacrosse's TJ Malone and women's track & field's Hayley Kitching. Malone was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season and earned multiple All-American accolades this season. He was recently drafted by the Maryland Whipsnakes in the Premier Lacrosse League. Kitching became Penn State's second 800-meter first-team All-American and first in the event in the NCAA era. She also owns the school record in the event. Kitching just competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she placed fifth in the 800 meters, the highest finish for a Nittany Lion female.
The men's lacrosse team led Penn State for the fifth consecutive year with 32 Big Ten honorees. Women's track & field followed with 29 selections, while women's lacrosse rounded out the top three with a program-record 27 honorees.
Team by Team Honorees
Baseball – 11
Men's Fencing – 13
Men's Lacrosse – 32
Men's Golf – 7
Men's Tennis – 4
Men's Track & Field – 26
Men's Volleyball – 6
Softball – 13
Women's Fencing – 13
Women's Golf – 6
Women's Hockey – 13
Women's Lacrosse – 27
Women's Tennis – 4
Women's Track & Field – 29
Penn State Highest Spring Academic All-Big Totals (3.0 GPA):
2021 – 226^
2022 – 224*
2023 – 210
2024 – 208
2019 – 183
2020 – 174^
2018 - 166
*- School Record
^- Alternate grading system used due to COVID-19.
Graduation Success Rates
Penn State student-athletes continue to register record-breaking graduation rates and perform well above their peers nationwide. The Nittany Lions posted a record-tying 93% NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and 13 programs earned perfect 100% ratings. This is the seventh consecutive year the Nittany Lions posted a record or record-tying performance in the classroom, according to data reported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The NCAA's annual graduation rates report of Division I institutions across the nation revealed Penn State student-athletes at the University Park campus earned a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 93% to break the school's all-time record, which was previously set in the 2020, 2021 and NCAA reports. Nittany Lion students posted a 93% graduation rate compared to the 90% average for all Division I institutions for students entering from 2013-14 through the 2016-17 academic year.
Penn State student-athletes have logged a Graduation Success Rate in the 88-93% range during each of the past 17 NCAA reports, improving from 88% in the 2015 report to a record-breaking 93% report in the most recent report.
Penn State Among the Nation's Premier Athletic Programs in Comprehensive Excellence
Under the leadership of Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Patrick Kraft, Penn State has one of the nation's most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, featuring 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men's, 15 women's). The Nittany Lions' 31 programs are tied for the fourth-highest number of sports sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution.
Penn State student-athletes earned a record 93% NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and 12 programs earned perfect 100% ratings in the 2023 report. This is the seventh consecutive year the Nittany Lions have posted a record or record-tying performance in the classroom. Penn State is one of only six schools that have won at least 10 NCAA Championships since 2013 and earned at least a 90 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the 2023 NCAA report (California, Florida, Stanford, USC, Virginia).