Northwestern University Athletics
Forty-One Wildcats Earn Academic All-Big Ten Award
3/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
2008-09 Winter Academic All-Big Ten Release 
March 26, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern student-athletes earned 41 Academic All-Big Ten honors in five winter sports, the Big Ten Conference office announced today (March 26). Coupled with the school-record 75 accolades won in the fall quarter, 116 Wildcats have been named Academic All-Big Ten during the 2008-09 academic year.
Northwestern-sponsored sports honored by the Big Ten during the winter season are: men's and women's basketball, men's and women's swimming and wrestling. NU's women's fencing squad will earn its awards during the spring at-large period.
To earn Academic All-Big Ten recognition, an athlete must be in his/her second year at the institution, letter in his/her sport and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.
This year, the conference office also will award the newly created Distinguished Scholar Award at the end of the academic year. Student-athletes eligible for the Distinguished Scholar Award must be letter winners in at least their second year in residence at their institution. Qualifying student-athletes must have earned a GPA of 3.7 or higher for the current academic year, excluding summer school. The 3.7 GPA benchmark was designed to include the top 10 percent of all eligible student-athletes. The Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award was established by conference Faculty Representatives as an addition to the conference's Academic All-Big Ten program. The first recipients will be honored prior to the fall of 2009, based on their GPAs from the 2008-09 academic year.
Following are Northwestern's 2008-09 winter season Academic All-Big Ten award winners:
Men's Basketball (6)
Mike Capocci, So. • Undeclared • Lombard, Ill.
Marlon Day, Sr. • Political Science • Mandeville, Jamaica
Patrick Houlihan, Sr. • Sociology • Rockville Centre, N.Y.
Jeff Ryan, Jr. • Learning and Organizational Change • Glenview, Ill.
Matt Steger, Jr. • Learning and Organizational Change • Northfield, Ill.
Sterling Williams, Gr. • Communication Studies • Chicago, Ill.
Women's Basketball (4)
Jenny Eckhart, Jr. • Human Development and Psychological Services • Libertyville, Ill.
Chiana Hung, Sr. • Mechanical Engineering • Elk Grove, Calif.
Ellen Jaeschke, Gr. • Human Development and Psychological Services • Cary, Ill.
Kaitlin McInerney, So. • Communication Studies • Oak Brook, Ill.
Men's Swimming (6)
Chris Doman, Jr. • Economics • Pittsburgh, Pa.
John Franklin, Sr. • Communication Studies (major) and Business Institutions (minor) • Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Brian Kerr, So. • Civil Engineering • East Grand Rapids, Mich.
Sean Mathews, So. • Undeclared • St. Louis, Mo.
Kyle O'Brien, So. • Undeclared • Juneau, Alaska
Jake Vogel, Jr. • Psychology • Canton, Ill.
Women's Swimming (18)
Stacy Congdon, Jr. • Psychology • Windermere, Fla.
Kiersten Cooley, So. • Journalism • Hershey, Pa.
Liza Engstrom, So. • Undeclared • Reno, Nev.
Jill Forster, Sr. • History • Centerville, Ohio
Mary Beth Francis, Jr. • English • San Diego, Calif.
Hayley Fry, Sr. • Psychology • Marion, Iowa
Ellen Grigg, So. • Undeclared • Charlotte, N.C.
Alex Kraus, So. • Undeclared • Birmingham, Ala.
Tania Lyerly, Jr. • Communication Studies and History (double major) • Libertyville, Ill.
Caitlin Masney, So. • Undeclared • Hong Kong, China
Erin Reilly, So. • Integrated Science Program • Frankfort, Ill.
Rachel Rys, Jr. • Gender Studies and Linguistics (double major) • Goleta, Calif.
Kassia Shishkoff, Jr. • Journalism and Spanish (double major) • Raleigh, N.C.
Kate Stephensen, So. • History and Anthropology • Davis, Calif.
Genny Szymanski, Jr. • Communication Studies • Haines, Alaska
Caroline Walls, So. • Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS) • Tucson, Ariz.
Sara White-Delehoy, Sr. • Communication Studies • Kent, Wash.
Emily Wong, Jr. • Psychology • Nepean, Ontario
Wrestling (7)
Kyle Bertin, Jr. • Mechanical Engineering • Cleveland, Ohio
Marty Gould, Sr. • Political Science • Lincolnwood, Ill.
Jake Herbert, Sr. • Communication Studies • Wexford, Pa.
Robert Joyce, Jr. • Economics • Arlington Heights, Ill.
Eric Metzler, Sr. • Learning and Organizational Change • Luxemburg, Wis.
Jamie Smith, Sr. • Communication Studies • Wheeling, Ill.
Keith Sulzer, Jr. • Industrial Engineering • Cleveland, Ohio
