March 31, 2010

Conference's Official Winter 2010 Academic All-Big Ten Release (PDF Format)

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern student-athletes have earned 37 Academic All-Big Ten honors in five winter sports, the Big Ten Conference announced today (March 31). Together with the school-record 83 accolades won in the fall quarter, 120 Wildcats have been named Academic All-Big Ten during the 2009-10 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. Of note this quarter is the Wildcat women's swimming team, which broke its own program record of 18 set a year ago with a whopping 22 Academic All-Big Ten award winners.

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 second 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 2009-10 winter season Academic All-Big Ten award winners:

Men's Basketball (4)
Mike Capocci, Jr. • Economics • Lombard, Ill.
Nick Fruendt, So. • Undeclared • Batavia, Ill.
Jeff Ryan, Sr. • Learning and Organizational Change • Glenview, Ill.
Matt Steger, Sr. • Learning and Organizational Change • Northfield, Ill.

Men's Swimming and Diving (5)
Nathan Butler, So. • Economics and Classics (double major) • Cincinnati, Ohio
Chris Doman, Sr. • Economics and Legal Studies (double major) • Pittsburgh, Pa.
John Frutiger, So. • Undeclared • Alma, Mich.
Kalister Harmon, Sr. • Economics • Olympia, Wash.
Brian Kerr, Jr. • Civil Engineering • East Grand Rapids, Mich.

Women's Basketball (3)
Beth Marshall, Sr. • Communication Studies • Fishers, Ind.
Kaitlin McInerney, Sr. • Communication Studies • Oak Brook, Ill.
Brittany Orban, So. • Civil Engineering • North Canton, Ohio

Women's Swimming and Diving (22)
Kiersten Cooley, Jr. • Journalism • Hershey, Pa.
Carlin Dacey, So. • Radio/Television/Film • West Roxbury, Mass.
Liza Engstrom, Jr. • Religion • Reno, Nev.
Katie Eschenburg, Jr. • Economics • Hartland, Wis.
Mary Beth Francis, Sr. • English • San Diego, Calif.
Jacquie Godbe, So. • Integrated Science Program • Rapid City, S.D.
Ellen Grigg, Jr. • English • Charlotte, N.C.
Molly Hennessy, So. • Engineering • Westport, Conn.
Shelby Johnson, So. • Undeclared • Wayzata, Minn.
Alex Kraus, Jr. • Classics • Birmingham, Ala.
Beth Loe, So. • Industrial Engineering • Upper Arlington, Ohio
Tania Lyerly, Sr. • Communication Studies and History (double major) • Libertyville, Ill.
Caitlin Masney, Jr. • Economics • Hong Kong, China
Sheila O'Neill, So. • Biomedical Engineering • Dunwoody, Ga.
Kathleen Patterson, So. • Communication Studies • Naperville, Ill.
Erin Reilly, Jr. • Human Communication Sciences • Frankfort, Ill.
Rachel Rys, Sr. • Gender Studies and Linguistics (double major) • Goleta, Calif.
Kassia Shishkoff, Sr. • Journalism and Spanish (double major) • Raleigh, N.C.
Kate Stephensen, Jr. • History and Secondary Education (double major) • Davis, Calif.
Genny Szymanski, Sr. • Communication Studies • Haines, Alaska
Caroline Walls, Jr. • Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS) • Tucson, Ariz.
Emily Wong, Sr. • Psychology • Nepean, Ontario

Wrestling (3)
Kyle Bertin, Sr. • Economics • Cleveland, Ohio
Robert Joyce, Sr. • Economics • Arlington Heights, Ill.
Eric Metzler, Gr. • Sports Administration • Luxemburg, Wis.