ROSEMONT, Ill. – Penn State Athletics saw 208 student-athletes earn Academic All-Big Ten honors from its spring teams. Gwendolyn Powell (women's golf) had a perfect 4.0 GPAs.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selections, students must be on a varsity team and 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 the honorees is Olympic gold medalist Tessa Janecke. One of the best hockey players in Penn State history, she departs the Blue & White with 201 points, the most by a Penn State hockey player, men’s and women’s. She also set program records in goals (89), assists (112), multi-goal games (17), shots on goal (776), plus/minus (+112), points per game (1.39), goals per game (0.61), assists per game (0.77), shorthanded goals (9) and shots per game (5.35). Another notable recognizee is men’s lacrosse's Alex Ross, who is the latest first-round PLL Draft pick out of Happy Valley. The first-team All-American went eighth overall to the New York Atlas, where he made his first appearance in last week's games.
Men’s track & field had a team high of 32, besting the record set last year by the program of 29. The women’s team tied their record high from the 2020-21 year of 35.
Team-by-Team Honorees
Baseball – 14
Softball – 11
Men's Fencing – 10
Women's Fencing – 11
Men’s Golf – 6
Women’s Golf – 5
Women’s Ice Hockey – 12
Men’s Lacrosse – 25
Women’s Lacrosse – 26
Men’s Tennis – 3
Women’s Tennis – 7
Men’s Track and Field – 32
Women’s Track and Field – 35
Men’s Volleyball – 11
The latest 208 honorees bring Penn State's total academic honorees to 9,583 since 1991-92.
Penn State Highest Spring Academic All-Big Totals (3.0 GPA):
2021 – 226^
2022 – 224*
2025 – 212
2023 – 210
2026 - 208
2024 – 208
2019 – 183
2020 – 174^
2018 – 166
*- School Record
^- Alternate grading system used due to COVID-19.
Penn State Among the Nation's Most Comprehensive and Successful Athletic Programs
Under the leadership of Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft, Penn State has one of the nation's most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, featuring nearly 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-tying 93% NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and 13 programs earned perfect 100% ratings in the 2025 report. This is the ninth consecutive year the Nittany Lions have posted a record or record-tying performance in the classroom. Penn State is one of only eight schools that have won at least 10 NCAA Championships since the 2015-16 academic year and earned at least a 90 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the 2025 NCAA report (Florida, North Carolina, Stanford, Texas, UCLA, USC, Virginia).