Penn State’s Student-Athlete Advisory Board held its Academic Achievement Awards Banquet, “The Nittanys,” on Monday night at Rec Hall.
Nittany Lion teams and student-athletes were recognized for their academic, athletic and community engagement achievements during the past school year.
Among the honors given out:
Varsity `S’ Awards, presented to the men’s and women’s teams with the highest team GPA, were given to men’s golf and women’s swimming and diving. The golf team won for a third year in a row.
Men’s golf also earned the Milton Morgan, Jr. Highest Team GPA Award for all 31 sports, for the second consecutive year and the fourth time overall.
The Nittany Lion Club’s True Grit Awards, for overcoming adversity, went to Kaitlin Jones of the women’s swim team and lacrosse player James Chakey.
The SAAB Awards (Student-Athletes Above and Beyond) were presented to field hockey’s Haley Kerstetter and men’s ice hockey’s Luke Juha.
The Phoenix Award, given for the first time for someone who overcame a challenging start academically, went to Payton Banks of men’s basketball.
Penn State Dance Marathon Awards were given to football’s Matt Zanellato for raising more than $15,000 for the Four Diamonds Fund, and women’s soccer’s Angela Widlacki, with the SAAB Thon Spirit Award, for dancing 46 hours in the event.
Champs Cup Awards for community outreach were given to women’s gymnastics (small teams of 20 or fewer) and football offensive unit (large team).
Also recognized were Penn State’s Big Ten Post-graduate Scholarship recipients Rebecca Stanley (women’s fencing) and Christian Kaschak (men’s soccer), as well as Ernest B. McCoy Award winners Britt Eckerstrom (women’s soccer) and Nico Megaludis (wrestling).
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