PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers Athletics placed 132 Scarlet Knights on the 2024-25 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars list, the conference announced. It marks the fifth-consecutive academic year that over 125 Rutgers student-athletes were named to the list.

A total of 33 Scarlet Knights earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average (GPA) during the previous academic year. Those individuals are listed below; 

• Lucy Bannatyne, Field Hockey
• Paulina Niklaus, Field Hockey
• Tyler Needham, Football
• Emily Leese, Gymnastics
• Gianna Ortiz, Gymnastics
• Aidan Flynn, Men's Soccer
• Noah Kriesman, Men's Track and Field
• Nico Morales, Men's Track and Field
• Alissa Kinkela, Volleyball
• Emma Baeyens, Women's Cross Country
• Emily James, Women's Golf
• Krystal Li, Women's Golf
• Lucrezia Rossettin, Women's Golf
• Erin Duggan, Women's Lacrosse
• Victoria Goldrick, Women's Lacrosse
• Kimberly Greenblatt, Women's Lacrosse
• Madison Karpe, Women's Lacrosse
• Kelsey Klein, Women's Lacrosse
• A'Mya Dill-El, Women's Rowing
• Julia Galesi, Women's Rowing
• Ruby Hatfield, Women's Rowing
• Kathryn Koleto, Women's Rowing
• Sydney Lehrer, Women's Rowing
• Claire Nealon , Women's Rowing
• Orian Gablan, Women's Swimming & Diving
• Grace Hagemaster, Women's Swimming & Diving
• Katherine Lang, Women's Swimming & Diving
• Hale Oal, Women's Swimming & Diving
• Natalie Schick, Women's Swimming & Diving
• Jade Smits, Women's Swimming & Diving
• Charlee Crawford, Women's Track and Field
• Emma Keating, Women's Track and Field
• Suzy Lacombe, Women's Track and Field

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 3.0 or higher for a student's academic career.

Rutgers Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Selections by Sport

Baseball (3)

• RJ Johnson Jr.
• JD Jones           
• Joe Mazza

Field Hockey (10)

• Natalie Arnold             
• Lucy Bannatyne          
• Olivia Beattie
• Guillermina Causarano
• Ava Cickavage
• Sophia Howard           
• Vicky Jure        
• Paulina Niklaus           
• Indy Van Ek     
• Puck Winter   

Football (10)

• Djibril Abdou Rahman            
• DJ Allen            
• Joe De Croce 
• Moses Gbagbe-Sowah          
• Kyonte Hamilton        
• Nelson Monegro Breton
• Tyler Needham            
• Nick Oliveira  
• Terrence Salami          
• Reggie Sutton

Gymnastics (9)

• Elia Aird            
• Olivia DiNovi 
• Campbell Earley        
• Emily Leese   
• Jacqueline Manifold
• Gianna Ortiz  
• Anna Pagliaro
• Matis Rains    
• Ginger Richards          

Men's Cross Country (1)

• Gavin Richards

Men's Golf (1)

• Noah Kumar

Men's Lacrosse (5)

• Brock Desmarais       
• Justin Lawler 
• Dean Scalamandre   
• Cardin Stoller
• Marco Wimmershoff

Men's Soccer (4)

• Nicholas Collins
• Aidan Flynn    
• Andrew Noel 
• Erick Ruiz        

Men's Track and Field (9)

• Steven Coponi             
• Ian Habjan      
• Noah Kriesman           
• Nico Morales 
• Zachary Novak            
• Brian O' Sullivan         
• Robert Paneque         
• Sincere Robinson      
• Zachary Semerjian   

Softball (2)

• Jillian Anderson          
• Georgia Ingle 

Volleyball (2)

• Makenzie Dyrstad      
• Alissa Kinkela

Women's Basketball (2)

• Kennedy Brandt
• Awa Sidibe     

Women's Cross Country (3)

• Emma Baeyens          
• Lorena David 
• Casey Walter

Women's Golf (4)

• Emily James   
• Krystal Li          
• Lorena Rossettin        
• Lucrezia Rossettin     

Women's Lacrosse (14)

• Makenna Boutin         
• Katie Buck      
• Ava Chiarella 
• Kayleigh Coughlin      
• Erin Devine    
• Erin Duggan   
• Gianna Eglauf              
• Victoria Goldrick        
• Kimberly Greenblatt 
• Madison Karpe            
• Kelsey Klein   
• Sophia Rowell              
• Samantha Swanovich             
• Grace Toth      

Women's Rowing (20)

• Lauren Andersen       
• Elli Arbogast
• Madison Cancro
• Megan Cherichello   
• A'Mya Dill-El
• Katharina Dowlin       
• Abigail Franks
• Julia Galesi     
• Madeline Galesi         
• Catherine Garvey       
• Ruby Hatfield
• Vanessa Karayiannis
• Kathryn Koleto
• Sydney Lehrer              
• Madison Miller            
• Catherine Montgomery         
• Claire Nealon
• Emily Szopa   
• Seher Talukdar            
• Sofia Ulinski  

Women's Soccer (7)

• Kassidy Banks             
• Olivia Bodmer              
• Kylie Daigle    
• Cameron Kennett      
• Olivia Russomanno  
• Tehya Scheuten          
• Patricia Tsokos           

Women's Swimming and Diving (13)

• Sephora Ford 
• Orian Gablan
• Grace Hagemaster   
• Ella Hall           
• Katherine Lang            
• Shannon Meadway   
• Hale Oal          
• Holly Prasanto             
• Natalie Schick             
• Elinor Schinsky           
• Jade Smits      
• Emma Solseng            
• Molly Urkiel    

Women's Tennis (2)

• Jackeline Lopez
• Mai Nguyen

Women's Track and Field (9)

• Anna Barber  
• Bailey Bertrand           
• Celine-Jada Brown    
• Charlee Crawford
• Kelly Enterline             
• Samantha Gravatt     
• Emma Keating             
• Suzy Lacombe
• Kristina Tossas

Wrestling (2)

• Alfred DeSantis
• Hadyn Packer