'Cats Post Record Number of Big Ten Distinguished Scholars

EVANSTON, Ill. – A school-record 121 Northwestern student-athletes earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition, the conference office announced Thursday.
 
All 19 varsity programs had at least one recipient of the honor for the second time ever, after doing so last year. This year's total of 121 Distinguished Scholars toppled the record of 106, also set during the 2019-20 academic year.
 
Distinguished Scholar Award recipients must be a recipient of Academic All-Big Ten Recognition in the previous academic year, must have been enrolled full-time at the institution for the entire previous academic year (two semesters or three quarters) and earned a minimum GPA of 3.70 or better during the previous academic year, excluding any summer grades. The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for a student's academic career. Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program.
 
Two programs led their respective Big Ten sports for the second season in a row: women's basketball (six) and fencing (12). Football (11), softball (10), women's lacrosse (14) all saw double-digit totals of honorees.
 
In addition to the distinguished scholar recognitions, Northwestern accumulated 200-plus Academic All-Big Ten awards for the 11th-straight year. The Wildcats finished the 2020-21 year with a school record of 349 student-athletes receiving the recognition for earning a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
 
Below are Northwestern's 2020-21 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars:
 
Baseball (8)
 
Anthony Alepra           Sr.        Physics
Tommy D'Alise            Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
David Dunn                 Sr.        Economics
Shawn Goosenberg     Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Leo Kaplan                  Gr.       Industrial Engineering
Quinn Lavelle              Sr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Sam Lawrence             Gr.       Secondary Teaching
Tyler Uberstine           Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
 
Men's Basketball (2)
 
Roy Dixon III                So.       Undeclared
Ryan Young                 Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
 
Women's Basketball (6)
 
Veronica Burton         Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Jordan Hamilton         Sr.        Communication Studies
Brooke Pikiell              Sr.        Psychology
Lindsey Pulliam           Sr.        Communication Studies
Jess Sancataldo           Jr.        Radio/Television/Film
Lauryn Satterwhite     Sr.        Journalism
 
Cross Country (6)
 
Kayla Byrne                 So.       Neuroscience
Amanda Davis             Sr.        Psychology / Computer Science
Hannah Hall                Jr.        Journalism / English
Rachel McCardell        Sr.        Computer Science
Sara McCoy                 Jr.        English
Olivia Verbeke            Jr.        Human Development and Psychological Services
 
Fencing (12)
 
Justine Banbury          Sr.        Journalism
Isabelle Banin             So.       Journalism
Doreen Du                  Jr.        Journalism
Julia Falinska               Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Sarah Filby                  Sr.        Journalism
Ananya Gupta             Jr.        Economics
Natalie Kim                 Jr.        Industrial Engineering
Elina Moon                  Jr.        Neuroscience
Thea Nguyen               So.       Psychology
Dhruthi Reddy            Jr.        Biological Sciences
Julia Shalansky            So.       Social Policy
Abigail Swallow          Jr.        Social Policy
 
Field Hockey (5)
 
Mackenzie Keegan      Sr.        Human Communication Sciences
Ana Medina Garcia     So.       Undeclared
Maren Seidel               Jr.        Economics / International Studies
Sabrina Solomen         Sr.        Human Communication Sciences
Kaitlin Wood               Sr.        Communication Studies / Economics
 
Football (11)
 
Willy Boatman            So.       History / Legal Studies
Jesse Brown                Gr.       Engineering Design Innovation
Trey Finison                So.       Learning and Organizational Change
Sam Gerak                   Jr.        Biological Sciences
Berkeley Holman        Jr.        Communication Studies
Charlie Kuhbander      Sr.        Communication Studies
Charlie Mangieri         Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Charlie Schmidt           So.       Communication Studies / Entrepreneurship
Peter Snodgrass          Jr.        Economics
Nik Urban                    Gr.       Sports Administration
Travis Whillock           Gr.       Sports Administration
 
Men's Golf (1)
 
David Nyfjäll                Jr.        Statistics
 
Women's Golf (5)
 
Irene Kim                    So.       Communication Studies
Jane Lu                        Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Brooke Riley                Gr.       Sports Administration
Kelly Sim                     Jr.        Psychology
Kelly Su                       Jr.        Communication Science
 
Women's Lacrosse (14)
 
Maddy Balter              So.       Learning and Organizational Change
Hunter Chadwick        So.       Learning and Organizational Change
Carson Copeland        Sr.        Legal Studies
Kate Copeland            Sr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Madison Doucette      Jr.        Manufacturing and Design Engineering
Brennan Dwyer           Sr.        Communication Studies
Lauren Gilbert             Sr.        Journalism
Jill Girardi                   Sr.        Communication Studies
Megan Gordon           Sr.        Communication Studies
Emma Jaques              Jr.        Journalism
Lindsey McKone          Gr.       Data Science
Ally Palermo                Sr.        Communication Studies
Kate Paliotta               Sr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Taylor Pinzone            Sr.        Communication Studies
 
Men's Soccer (7)
 
Richie Bennett            Gr.       Biological Sciences
Spencer Howard         Sr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Bardia Kimiavi             Gr.       Learning and Organizational Change
Connor McCabe          Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Eric Smits                    Sr.        Undeclared
Drew Viscomi              Sr.        Human Development and Psychological Services
Julian Zighelboim        Gr.       Psychology
 
Women's Soccer (8)
 
Marianna Annest        So.       Undeclared
Nia Harris                    Sr.        Journalism
Madi Kennel                Sr.        Economics / Entrepreneurship
Paige Miller                 So.       Communication Studies
Kayleigh Stahlschmidt  Sr.        Biological Sciences
Regan Steigleder         Sr.        Earth and Planetary Sciences
Olivia Stone                 Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Mackenzie Wood        Jr.        Statistics / Communication Studies
 
Softball (10)
 
Lauren Caldrone         Jr.        Statistics
Nikki Cuchran              Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Mac Dunlap                Sr.        Communication Studies
Rachel Lewis               Sr.        Communication Studies
Makenna Nelson         So.       Undeclared
Morgan Newport        Gr.       Sports Administration
Kendall Peterson         So.       Learning and Organizational Change
Skyler Shellmyer         Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Sammy Stanley           Jr.        Political Science
Danielle Williams        Jr.        Human Development in Context
 
Men's Swim and Dive (4)
 
Keegan Bundy             Sr.        Economics
Peter Lewczyk             Sr.        Economics
Manuel Martos Bacarizo        Jr.        Mechanical Engineering
Henry Schirmer           So.       Environmental Engineering
 
Women's Swim and Dive (7)
 
Labonita Ghose           Jr.        Neuroscience
Markie Hopkins           So.       Undeclared
Ilektra Lebl                  Sr.        Psychology
Shaunmei Lim             Sr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Danielle Nowaski        So.       Undeclared
Calypso Sheridan        Sr.        Computer Science
Maddie Smith             Sr.        Statistics
 
Men's Tennis (4)
 
Chris Ephron               Gr.       Post Baccalaureate
AJ Joshi                        Sr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Trice Pickens               Jr.        Biological Sciences
Natan Spear                So.       Chemical Engineering
 
Women's Tennis (4)
 
Hannah McColgan      Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Inci Ogut                     Sr.        Communication Studies
Caroline Pozo              Sr.        Communication Studies
Vanessa Streng           Jr.        Communication Studies
 
Women's Volleyball (4)
 
Charlotte Cronister     So.       Journalism
Nia Robinson              Sr.        Journalism     
Ivey Whalen                Sr.        Journalism / Sociology
 
Wrestling (4)
 
Lucas Davison             Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Troy Fisher                  So.       Undeclared
Jack Heyob                  Jr.        Learning and Organizational Change
Jack Tolin                    Sr.        Political Science
 
Note: Recipients in bold received special recognition for posting a perfect 4.0 GPA during the 2019-20 academic year.