March 30, 2011

Official Conference Office 2011 Winter Quarter Academic All-Big Ten Release (PDF Format)

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern student-athletes have earned 42 Academic All-Big Ten honors in five winter sports, the Big Ten Conference announced today (March 30). Together with the school-record 90 accolades won in the fall quarter, 132 Wildcats have been named Academic All-Big Ten during the 2010-11 academic year. This is an 11-award increase over NU's total at this time a year ago.

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. Of note this quarter is the Wildcat women's swimming team, which had their second-straight year with more than 20 award winners after picking up a program-record 22 a year ago.

In addition to their academic success, several winter Wildcats earned significant athletic honors. Men's swimmer Sean Mathews earned honorable mention All-America status this year while his teammate Charlie Rimkus and wrestlers Levi Mele and Andrew Nadhir all qualified for their respective NCAA Championships, as well.

"We are proud of the way our student-athletes excel in the classroom at the same time they are succeeding on the field of play," Director of Athletics and Recreation Jim Phillips said. "The way in which we continue to earn a record number of Academic All-Big Ten awards each year is a credit both to the dedication of our student-athletes and to the tremendous efforts of our excellent academic advisors."

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.

For the third year, the conference office also will award the 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, which is based on cumulative GPA.

Following are Northwestern's 2010-11 winter season Academic All-Big Ten award winners:

Men's Basketball (8)
Mike Capocci, Sr. • Economics • Lombard, Ill.
Drew Crawford, So. • Undeclared • Naperville, Ill.
Davide Curletti, Jr. • Radio/TV/Film • Farmington Hills, Mich.
Nick Fruendt, Jr. • Economics • Batavia, Ill.
Reggie Hearn, So. • Undeclared • Fort Wayne, Ind.
Luka Mirkovic, Jr. • Communication Studies • Belgrade, Serbia
Austin Nichols, So. • Psychology and Science in Human Culture (double major) • Lansing, Mich.
Jeff Ryan, Sr. • Learning and Organizational Change • Glenview, Ill.

Women's Basketball (3)
Kendall Hackney, So. • Communication Studies • Cincinnati, Ohio
Beth Marshall, Gr. • Communication Studies • Fishers, Ind.
Brittany Orban, Jr. • Mechanical Engineering • North Canton, Ohio

Men's Swimming (5)
John Frutiger, Jr. • Environmental Sciences • Alma, Mich.
Sean Mathews, Sr. • Biomedical Engineering • St. Louis, Mo.
Peter Park, Sr. • Anthropology • Princeton, N.J.
Charlie Rimkus, So. • Undeclared • Tustin, Calif.
Jake Vogel, Sr. • Psychology • Canton, Ill.

Women's Swimming (21)
Kiersten Cooley, Sr. • Journalism • Hershey, Pa.
Carlin Dacey, Jr. • Radio/TV/Film • West Roxbury, Mass.
Liza Engstrom, Sr. • Religious Studies • Reno, Nev.
Katie Eschenburg, Sr. • Learning and Organizational Change • Hartland, Wis.
Meaghan Fenn, So. • Human Communication Sciences • New Rochelle, N.Y.
Jacquie Godbe, Jr. • Chemistry and Integrated Science Program (double major) • Rapid City, S.D.
Ellen Grigg, Sr. • English and History (double major) • Charlotte, N.C.
Marybeth Hall, So. • Undeclared • Brighton, Mich.
Shelby Johnson, Jr. • Biological Sciences • Wayzata, Minn.
Meredith King, So. • Undeclared • Louisville, Ky.
Alex Kraus, Sr. • Classics • Birmingham, Ala.
Felicitas Lenz, So. • German • Altadena, Calif.
Beth Loe, Jr. • Industrial Engineering • Upper Arlington, Ohio
Katie McCullough, So. • Undeclared • Grand Rapids, Mich.
Sheila O'Neill, Jr. • Mechanical Engineering • Dunwoody, Ga.
Kathleen Patterson, Jr. • Communication Studies • Naperville, Ill.
Erin Reilly, Sr. • Human Communication Sciences • Frankfort, Ill.
Taylor Reynolds, So. • Undeclared • St. Louis, Mo.
Kate Stephensen, Sr. • History • Davis, Calif.
Caroline Walls, Sr. • Political Science and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (double major) • Tucson, Ariz.
Jenny Wilson, Jr. • Journalism • Bethesda, Md.

Wrestling (5)
Paul Jackson, So. • Undeclared • Detroit, Mich.
Robert Joyce, Gr. • Geography • Arlington Heights, Ill.
Ben Kuhar, Sr. • Mechanical Engineering • Concord, Ohio
Levi Mele, So. • Sociology • Vernal, Utah
Andrew Nadhir, Gr. • Economics • Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

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