For the fourth year in a row, Ohio State leads the Big Ten in student-athletes who have achieved at the highest level in the classroom.
131 Ohio State student-athletes – the most in school history, surpassing the previous record of 129 set last year – were named Tuesday as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for the 2018-19 academic year, more than any other school in the conference.
The Big Ten Distinguished Scholars honors student-athletes from each of the conference's 14 member schools who earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition the previous year, have been enrolled full-time at the institution for at least a full year and earned a grade-point average of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year, excluding summer grades.
Ohio State's honorees this year include men's basketball fan favorite Joey Lane, who completed his Buckeyes career this past season, and four walk-ons from the football team: linebacker Logan Hittle, running back Amari McMahon, punter Jake Metzer and long snapper Bradley Robinson.
Other Ohio State athletes who earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors this for 2018-19 include Julia Rizk, who won the NCAA indoor track and field championship in the women's mile run; Mara Hunter, who plays field hockey at Ohio State after a battle with leukemia in high school; Jincy Dunne, a first-team All-American and the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year in women's hockey; softball's Kallie Boren, the younger sister of former Ohio State football players Justin, Zach and Jacoby Boren; Cole Gorski, the school record holder in the men's indoor and outdoor pole vault; and wrestlers Micah Jordan, Joey McKenna and Zach Steiner.
Sixteen of Ohio State's Big Ten Distinguished Scholars earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average for the 2018-19 academic year: Makayla Waterman (women’s basketball), Lainey Studebaker (women’s cross country), Ethan Edwards (fencing), Benjamin Marcus (fencing), Aleksandra Kolmykova (fencing), Joey Wilmot (men’s gymnastics), Nevin Adamski (women’s gymnastics), Lukas Buckley (men’s lacrosse), Emily Skrzypczak (women’s lacrosse), Anjali Fernandes (rowing), Michaela Nordhaus (rowing), Kat Duvall (softball), Reed McGraw (men’s swimming & diving), Lara Tarvit (women’s swimming & diving), Sarah Walsh (synchronized swimming) and Lauren Witte (women’s volleyball).
