Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Honors Seniors at Annual N Club Induction
6/18/2015 2:07:00 PM | General, Academic Services & Student Development
Wildcats announce 2014-15 end of the season award winners
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern University's N Club held its annual Induction and Senior Recognition Banquet Thursday night at the Hilton Orrington Evanston, inducting the senior class into the N Club while honoring several Wildcats for outstanding seasons and careers for NU.
Following is a list of the awards bestowed at the banquet:
Big Ten Medal of Honor Recipients
Brandon Vitabile • Football
Maddy Carpenter • Field Hockey
The Big Ten Medal of Honor, celebrating its 101st anniversary this year, is the conference's most exclusive award, and was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence. The Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work." Big Ten schools currently feature more than 8,200 student-athletes, but only 24 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis.
During his tenure in Evanston, Vitabile was a standout both on the gridiron and in the classroom. The Edison, New Jersey, native made his first career start at center for Northwestern on September 3, 2011, and he would go on to start the next 49 games as well.
Vitabile served as a team captain in 2012 and 2013, and in both of those seasons, he garnered All-Big Ten honorable mention accolades. In addition to being a candidate for the Rimington Trophy, which goes to the nation's most outstanding center, Vitabile was one of only 17 2014 National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete award recipients. That qualified Vitabile as a finalist for the prestigious William V. Campbell trophy, which is regarded as the "Academic Heisman."
Vitabile is a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and a three-time Big Ten Distinguished scholar, an award given to those with a grade-point average of 3.7 or above. Vitabile, who graduated with a degree in economics in 2014, is currently pursuing a career in the National Football League with the Indianapolis Colts.
Carpenter's four-year run as the starting goalkeeper for the Northwestern field hockey team has coincided with the most success the program has experienced in decades.
A first-team All-Big Ten selection as a senior this past fall, Carpenter helped lead the Wildcats to a Big Ten title for the second straight year. She was recognized as the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten tournament after leading the Wildcats to their first conference tournament title in school history and a second victory of the season over second-ranked Maryland.
Twice in 2014, Carpenter was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and her efforts helped the Wildcats to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 20 years. A three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, Carpenter is graduating with a degree in anthropology, and will serve as an assistant coach at Dartmouth next season.
Northwestern's Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year Nominee
Jordan Wilimovsky • Men's Swimming and Diving
The Big Ten Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards are given annually to the outstanding male and female athletes in the Big Ten.
Distance freestyle and U.S. National Team standout Wilimovsky is this year's Northwestern candidate for the Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year award after breaking three school records, winning the Big Ten championship in the 1,650 freestyle and earning two All-America honors.
Wilimovsky broke both the Iowa pool record and the NU record with a time of 14:33.50 in the mile at the Big Ten Championships in his best swim of the season. He was NU's lone representation at the NCAA Championships, where his third-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle and 15th-place result in the 500 free gave Northwestern enough points to finish 29th in the nation as an entire team.
Outside of collegiate competition, Wilimovsky won the U.S. Open Water 10K national championship last month, putting the junior one major step closer to a berth in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. An Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Wilimovsky is majoring in political science.
Northwestern's Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year Nominee
Hanna Kim • Women's Golf
The Big Ten Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards are given annually to the outstanding male and female athletes in the Big Ten.
Freshman Kim burst onto the women's golf scene, earning both the Big Ten Freshman and Player of the Year awards in just her first season of competition.
Kim finished in the top-20 in seven of her 12 collegiate tournaments, including five top-10 finishes and two runner-up performances at the Lady Puerto Rico and the Hurricane Invitational, an event the Wildcats won as a team for the second-straight year.
A first-team All-Big Ten choice and three-time Big Ten Player of the Week, Kim is the first Big Ten Player of the Year in Northwestern's program history. She was one of three Wildcats to finish in the top-10 at the 2015 Big Ten Championships, helping NU to its second conference title in the last three years.
NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee
Katie Landgrebe • Women's Soccer
This award recognizes individual excellence in three areas: athletics, academics and community service. Each NCAA institution has the opportunity to nominate up to two graduating seniors who participate in athletics during the current school year to be their "NCAA Woman of the Year" and those nominees will be eligible for selection as the conference's Woman of the Year.
Landgrebe is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar who will graduate this year with a degree in journalism while minoring in English. On the field, Landgrebe played in 67 games as a Wildcat, scoring three goals and passing out four assists. She led NU in goals in 2013 and ranked second on the team in assists in 2014.
Her greatest achievements, however, have come off the field. Landgrebe has made multiple trips to South Africa and Haiti to work with in medial clinics and against anti-human slavery. She organized and co-led a national anti-slavery student effort called Unbound Movement that has had over 1,000 participants in two years.
One of five student-athletes to receiver the inaugural Kabiller Award for Excellence in Character, Commitment and Community, Landgrebe has accepted a full-time position as a communications specialist with Laurete International Universities.
Big Ten Postgraduate Scholarships
Julia Kuhn • Softball
John Coukos • Wrestling
In 2013, the Big Ten began awarding one male and one female student-athlete from each member institution a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship. Student-athletes must have been in their final season of NCAA eligibility, maintained at least a 3.2 grade-point-average, demonstrated leadership qualities, served as an excellent role model and intended to continue their academic work beyond their baccalaureate degree at a graduate degree program.
Kuhn is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and likely three-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar who will graduate in June with a degree in human communication sciences, a minor in French and a certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications. The Middletown, New Jersey, native plans to enroll at New York University, where she will pursue a Master of Science in speech language pathology.
After serving mostly as a defensive specialist during her career, Kuhn had an outstanding senior year with a .321 average, 11 doubles, six home runs and 37 RBIs - More than doubling her career totals in those categories to earn NFCA All-Region honors.
A four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and multiple-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, Coukos will graduate from Northwestern as a quadruple major after enrolling in the Integrated Science Program while simultaneously majoring in chemistry, mathematics and biological sciences. The fifth-year senior will stay in the area to attend the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. There, he will enter the Medical Scientist Training Program to pursue an MD/PhD with an eye on studying neurodegenerative disorders such as ALS and Parkinson's. Coukos racked up 10 wins during his time on the mat, including a tech fall victory this year at Midlands.
N Club Performance Award
Tyler Miller • Men's Soccer
Katie Dutchman • Volleyball
Hana Lee • Women's Golf
The N Club Performance Award is presented to male and female student-athletes in recognition of "spectacular and outstanding" athletic performance by a graduating senior and letter award winner.
Miller capped an outstanding Northwestern career by leading the Big Ten in goals against average, save percentage and shutouts in 2014 en route to earning an All-America award and being named the unanimous choice for Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year.
The career shutouts record holder for the Wildcats, Miller was a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2011, 2012 and 2014. He earned three Academic All-Big Ten awards and was named the first NSCAA Scholar All-American in school history this year.
Drafted by the Seattle Sounders in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft, Miller now plays professionally in Germany.
After redshirting during her first year on campus, volleyball standout Dutchman was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team in 2011 and never looked back. Following her final season in the fall, the middle blocker became only the sixth Wildcat under head coach Keylor Chan to earn All-America recognition when she received an honorable mention nod.
Dutchman's 2014 attacking percentage of .347 stood out as the second-best single-season mark in Wildcats history. A two-year captain, she also finished her collegiate playing career ranked fourth all-time in hitting percentage at Northwestern.
After graduating last year with a degree in biological sciences, she received a certificate in the School of Professional Studies with a concentration in business studies. She most recently played professionally in Peru with fellow NU alums Sabel Moffett and Stephanie Holthus.
Women's golf's Lee concluded the best career in program history this season, helping Northwestern to its third-straight top-15 national finish and second Big Ten title in the last three years. A three-time All-Big Ten honoree and a 2014 Golfweek honorable mention All-American, Lee finished her time at NU with a 75.01 stroke average, the best among Wildcats in the clubhouse of their careers.
Lee twice shot rounds of 66 -- the best single-round score in school history -- and won medalist honors at the 2014 Liz Murphey Collegiate. Lee will graduate with a degree in communication studies and a minor in business institutions, and hopes to extend her playing career professionally.
N Club Achievement Award
Mike McMullan • Wrestling
Kelsey Thompson • Field Hockey
The N Club Achievement Award is given to one male and one female student-athlete who have exhibited the qualities of good citizenship, significant academic achievement and outstanding athletic performance.
McMullan concluded his Northwestern career as the 2015 Big Ten Heavyweight champion and just the third four-time All-American in school history. He finished in the Top three in the nation every year, reaching the NCAA finals as a sophomore in 2013 while winning the third-place match in each of his other three seasons, including in 2015.
McMullan's 103-23 career record gives him an .817 career winning percentage, good for ninth in program history. An Academic All-Big Ten honoree in 2015, McMullan graduated with degrees in both journalism and political science, and is attending the University of Pennsylvania to pursue a master's degree in criminology.
A standout on the field as well as in the classroom and the community, Thompson has demonstrated all of the characteristics of the prototypical Northwestern student-athlete over her career. A four-year defensive starter for the Wildcats' field hockey team, Thompson played a key role in the program earning Big Ten titles each of the last two years.
Her efforts in the classroom are equally impressive, having been named to the NFHCA National Academic Squad as well as the Academic All-Big Ten team each year she has been eligible for the honor. In addition, she was recognized as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar in 2012.
Thompson has also been a standout when it comes to community service as she twice has served on mission trips to Nicaragua. After graduating with a degree in psychology, Thompson now is a clinical assistant at Midwest Orthopedics, Rush Hospital Chicago.
Billy McKinney Award
Christian Jones • Football
The Billy McKinney Award is presented to the male student-athlete who has exhibited exemplary leadership qualities, constant (110 percent) effort, and a positive attitude that, in his coach's estimation, makes him a "coach's dream." McKinney graduated as Northwestern's all-time leading scorer, netting 1,900 points for the men's basketball team from 1973-77. He went on to play nine years in the NBA.
Jones has incurred his share of adversity during his time in Evanston, but the native Texan has risen above it, time and again. After recovering from a significant injury in high school, Jones arrived at Northwestern and made an immediate impact by appearing in all 13 games as a true freshman in 2011.
Jones played in all 13 games in 2012, including the memorable Gator Bowl victory, where he caught five passes, which was a career-high at the time, against Mississippi State. The Houston native started all 12 games at wide receiver in 2013 as he hauled in 54 passes for 668 yards and four scores. Two of those touchdowns came in a record-setting performance in Champaign when he caught a career-high 13 passes for a personal-best 182 yards in victory over the Illini.
Jones suffered another setback in August 2014 that would keep him out of action for the duration of the fall. He did not let that stop him, however, as he donned the hat of a mentor, coach and cheerleader for all of his Northwestern teammates.
Lisa Ishikawa Award
Olivia Duehr • Softball
The Lisa Ishikawa award is presented to a female student-athlete who has exhibited outstanding leadership ability and selfless dedication to team goals; Ishikawa's determination and positive attitude on the softball diamond led her to perform above and beyond the expected. She was the NCAA's single-season strikeout record-holder for nearly a decade, leading Northwestern to four-straight Big Ten titles and three-straight Women's College World Series from 1984-87.
After years spent building a reputation as a slugger, Duehr made her most important contributions to Northwestern as a pitcher during her senior season.
Owner of 21 career home runs and the only Wildcat in the 35-year history of Sharon J. Drysdale Field to hit three home runs onto the roof of McGaw Hall, Duehr stepped into pitcher's circle in 2015 for the first time since high school to help boost an NU pitching staff dealing with multiple injuries. Her do-anything-to-help-the-team attitude helped propel Northwestern into the 2015 NCAA Tournament field after reaching the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
An Academic All-Big Ten award winner, Duehr will graduate in June with a degree in secondary education, and has been substitute teaching in Milwaukee while interviewing for full-time high school teaching and coaching positions.
Northwestern's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Recipients
Brooke Jones • Women's Lacrosse
Connor Holloway • Men's Soccer
The Big Ten Sportsmanship award is given to one male and female student-athlete who displays exemplary sportsmanship and is a key contributor in the community.
Jones was a positive leader on the Northwestern lacrosse program that embraced her role as a backup goalkeeper for three years and demonstrated the ability to step in when needed and provide key leadership in the cage.
A three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Jones participated in multiple post-game clinics and autograph sessions in addition to being active in the community. She appeared in 20 games in her career, including eight off the bench in her senior campaign in which she made a career-high four saves in a pair of contests against Ohio State and Penn State.
After graduation with a double major in Radio/Television/Film and Economics, Jones will pursue a master's degree in Management Studies at the Kellogg School of Management this summer.
A two-year team captain, Holloway helped lead Northwestern to a berth in the NCAA Tournament in his senior campaign by starting 18 of 19 games in the midfield. He was named an Academic All-Big Ten selection three times and was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar in 2013.
Connor graduated from Northwestern in December and is currently working as a Business Leadership Program Associate for LinkedIn. He was instrumental in helping launch the NU for Life program, serving on the student-athlete advisory group.
Holloway was active in several community service efforts including Cycle for Survival with the men's soccer program, SAAC Field Day, AYSO and NU Soccer clinics, visits to Family Focus as well as making regular visits to the Lurie Children's Hospital and working with the Youth Job Center in Evanston.
Landgrebe and Coukos also were honored with the Margaret Akerstrom Academic Achievement Award, given annually to the male and female graduating student-athlete with the highest GPA. The award, formerly the Director's Award, was renamed last year in honor of 25 years of service by retired Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services Margaret Akerstrom.
In addition, a new award was introduced in 2015: The N Club Spirit & Support Academic Achievement Award honoring the graduating member of Northwestern's spirit squad and student support groups with the highest GPA. The inaugural winner was Derek Cox, a men's basketball student manager who graduated with a degree in industrial engineering and a Kellogg Certificate in managerial analytics.
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