IOWA CITY, Iowa – Seventy-three University of Iowa student-athletes have been named Big Ten Conference Distinguished Scholars, it was announced Tuesday by the league office.

 

Among the Iowa honorees, 21 maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the 2023-24 academic term, including:

 

Sofia Bush, women’s soccer

Samantha Cary, women’s soccer

Hillary Cox, field hockey

Molly Davis, Women’s Basketball

Harper Dunne, field hockey

Sharon Goodman, Women’s Basketball

Aaron Graves, football

Abby Jaynes, rowing

Luke Lachey, football

Lauren McMahon, women’s track & field/cross country

Katie Moore, women’s track & field/cross country

Julia Pattison, women’s track & field/cross country

Felipe Pedraza, men’s golf

Abby Ryon, women’s track & field/cross country

Lillian Schmidt, women’s track & field/cross country

Cullan Schriever, men’s wrestling

Sofie Stribos, field hockey

Kelli Tosic, women’s track & field/cross country

Ellie Twedt, women’s track & field/cross country

Michelle Urquhart, volleyball

Kaia Vanney, women’s gymnastics

 

Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. Distinguished Scholar Award 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 or better during the previous academic year, excluding any summer grades. The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher for a student-athlete’s academic career.

 

The Big Ten recognized 1,695 student-athletes in 38 different sports as Distinguished Scholars, including 385 who maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA during the previous academic term.