University of Minnesota Athletics
88 Gophers Earn Academic All-Big Ten Honors
3/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
March 26, 2014
MINNEAPOLIS - The Big Ten Conference announced their Academic All-Big Ten selections for the winter season on Wednesday afternoon. A total of 88 Golden Gopher student-athletes earned the conference academic accolade. The list of Maroon and Gold honorees includes 21 women's and 12 men's swimmers and divers, 13 men's and six women's gymnasts, 14 men's hockey players, seven women's basketball players and 15 wrestlers.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be letter winners in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a career grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better.
Minnesota's winter Big Ten sports include men's and women's basketball, men's hockey, men's and women's gymnastics, men's and women's swimming and wrestling.
Nathan Fortunato, a senior gymnast and recreation resource management major, and Jessica Plant, a junior swimmer and classical civilization major, both received special recognition as they were named among seven other conference winter-sport student-athletes that have maintained an unblemished 4.0 GPA.
The women's swimming and diving team led the way for the University of Minnesota with 21 selections for the second year in the row. With a roster of 30, the women's swimming and diving team had 70 percent of their roster earn academic honors.
The overall list of conference honorees includes 32 men's and 49 women's basketball players, 51 men's and 52 women's gymnasts, 69 hockey players, 143 men's and 183 women's swimmers and divers and 97 wrestlers totaling 678 student-athletes.
The conference office also awards Academic All-Big Ten distinction in the fall and spring seasons and will present the Distinguished Scholar Award at the end of the academic year. Student-athletes eligible for the Distinguished Scholar Award must be letterwinners 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 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award was established by conference Faculty Representatives as an addition to the conference's Academic All-Big Ten program.
Men's Gymnastics (13)
Sean Bauer
Steffen Beck
Zack Chase
Daniel Dibenedetto
Nathan Fortunato
Steve Jaciuk
Adam Kern
Ellis Mannon
Jack Metcalf
Justin Morinishi
John Scallon
Spencer Smith
Sam Wright
Men's Hockey (14)
Seth Ambroz
Travis Boyd
Nate Condon
Justin Holl
Christian Isackson
Jake Parenteau
Kyle Rau
Connor Reilly
Ryan Reilly
Tom Serratore
Brady Skjei
Sam Warning
Adam Wilcox
Men's Swimming and Diving (12)
Benjamin Bravence
Alejandro Cisneros
Jason Hartbarger
Christopher Johnson
Erik Larsen
Garin Marlow
Ryan Miksch
Carl Newenhouse
Emanuel Pollard
Logan Redondo
Derek Toomey
Sandy Whitaker
Women's Basketball (7)
Mikayla Bailey
Kayla Hirt
Jackie Johnson
Shayne Mullaney
Sari Noga
Micaella Riche
Amanda Zahui B.
Women's Gymnastics (6)
Justine Cherwink
Madie Hanley
Lindsay Mable
Kylie Schermann
Kayla Slechta
Cierra Tomson
Women's Swimming and Diving (21)
Kaela Anderson
Katie Anton
Heidi Busack
Erin Caflisch
Christie Clarke
Katy Etterman
Samantha Harding
Kiera Janzen
Maggie Keefer
Amelia Marsh
Haley Pietila
Jessica Plant
Chloe Portela
Monica Radecke
Jessica Ramberg
Tori Simenec
Devin Ste. Marie
Hailey Szews
Lauren Votava
Rebecca Weiland
Blake Zeiger
Wrestling (15)
Jordan Bremer
Alex Daugherty
Randy Hanson
Corey Hodowanic
Michael Kroells
Levi Nayes
Brett Pfarr
Conrad Rangell
Scott Schiller
Joshua Shupe
Pat Smith
Kevin Steinhaus
Danny Zilverberg
Full list of Academic All-Big Ten honorees
Players Mentioned
