Top Academic Achievers Honored as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Seventy-two student-athletes earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition for their academic excellence during the 2021-22 school year as Purdue Athletics reached a benchmark of 70 honorees for the third year in a row.

Student-athletes across the conference were recognized as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for achieving grade-point averages of 3.70 and better during the completed school year. Fourteen of the Boilermakers’ 72 honorees (19%) compiled flawless 4.0 GPAs during the 2020-21 school year. Eight of Purdue’s teams had at least one student-athlete with a 4.0.

Two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholars Kat Mueller (swimming & diving) and Ian Hunter (cross country and track & field) have maintained perfect cumulative 4.0 GPAs through the end of their junior years at Purdue. Mya Hagerty (cross country and track & field) and Belle Hinshaw (swimming & diving) also have cumulative 4.0s. Tessa Sheets (track & field) has been a straight-A student as a Boilermaker as well.

Twenty-nine of Purdue’s most recent group of Big Ten Distinguished Scholars were also 2022 spring graduates.

Meanwhile, a dozen student-athletes were recognized as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for at least the third time in their careers. That group is headlined by four-time honorees Megan Slamkowski (cross country and track & field), Maya Lambert (soccer) and Sheets.

 

Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. Distinguished Scholar recipients must have earned 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 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.

Purdue also had a record 265 student-athletes earn Academic All-Big Ten honors during the 2021-22 school year – 107 in the fall, 68 in the winter and 90 in the spring.

BIG TEN DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR NOTABLES

• Women’s swimming & diving had a Purdue-best 13 student-athletes honored as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars this year. Soccer was close behind with nine honorees while having a…