Ohio State Student-Athletes Receive Big Ten Winter Academic All-Conference Honors – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | General
March 30, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Forty-six Ohio State student-athletes were named to the 2003-04 Big Ten Academic All-Conference Team for winter sports, the league announced Tuesday. To be eligible for the academic all-Big Ten team, student-athletes must be a letterwinner in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a career grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better. Of the 409 total student-athletes, three carry perfect GPAs, including Ohio State sophomore gymnast Emily Sineway.
The women’s swimming and diving team boasted 14 all-academic members, followed by the men’s swimming and diving team, which had 10 honorees. The women’s gymnastics, wrestling and men’s gymnastics teams had seven, six and four recipients, respectively, while the women’s basketball team had three and the men’s basketball team had two selections.
Jamey Houle, a senior psychology major and a finalist for the Nissen-Emery Award, which is annually presented to the outstanding senior male collegiate gymnast, boasts a 3.97 GPA. Junior All-American diver Mitch Ritcheson has a 3.97 GPA in computer engineering and international business major and junior member of the women’s swimming and diving team, Kristina Lipskis, has a 3.86 GPA.
2003-04 Academic All-Big Ten
| Men’s Basketball | ||||
| Name, School | Year | GPA | Major | Hometown |
| Matt Marinchick, OSU | JR | 3.00 | Family Resource Management | Hudson, Ohio |
| Ugo Nwankwo, OSU | JR | 3.51 | Biology | Ann Arbor, Mich. |
| Women’s Basketball | ||||
| Name, School | Year | GPA | Major | Hometown |
| Candace Dark, OSU | SO | 3.57 | Exercise Science | Kingman, Ind. |
| Emily Haynam, OSU | SR | 3.51 | Journalism | Westerville, Ohio |
| Caity Matter, OSU | SR | 3.11 | History & Communications | Bluffton, Ohio |
| Men’s Gymnastics | ||||
| Name, School | Year | GPA | Major | Hometown |
| Jamey Houle, OSU | SR | 3.97 | Psychology | Enfield, Conn. |
| Jahir Johnson, OSU | SO | 3.22 | English Toledo, Ohio | |
| Tim Saxton, OSU | JR | 3.68 | Philosophy | Pickerington, Ohio |
| Jamie Shepard, OSU | SR | 3.08 | Criminology | Dayton, Ohio |
| Women’s Gymnastics | ||||
| Name, School | Year | GPA | Major | Hometown |
| Bethany Groskopf, OSU | SR | 3.45 | Nursing | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Shelley Harris, OSU | JR | 3.20 | Human Dev/Family Studies | East Lansing, Mich. |
| Tiffanie Janke, OSU | SR | 3.09 | Social Work | Schaumberg, Ill. |
| Elizabeth Meaney, OSU | JR | 3.11 | Psychology | Ashtabula, Ohio |
| Kaylin Schlecht, OSU | SO | 3.27 | Pre-Business | Marion, Ohio |
| Emily Sineway, OSU | SO | 4.00 | Exploring | Norcross, Ga. |
| Shelby Warner, OSU | SO | 3.25 | Exploring | Fenton, Mich. |
| Men’s Swimming and Diving | ||||
| Name, School | Year | GPA | Major | Hometown |
| Adam Braun, OSU | SO | 3.49 | Undeclared | Berkley, Mich. |
| Marc Dreyer, OSU | SO | 3.73 | Accounting | Port Elizabeth, South Africa |
| Jeff Gullett, OSU | SO | 3.87 | Computer Engineering | Byron, Ill. |
| Nick Hanneman, OSU | SO | 3.27 | Undeclared | Upper Arlington, Ohio |
| Rob Kauscher, OSU | JR | 3.21 | Business | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Mitch Richeson, OSU | JR | 3.97 | Computer Science Engineering | Indianapolis, Ind. |
| Ryan Sciortino, OSU | JR | 3.18 | History/ Political Science | Maitland, Fla. |
| Chris Stoneburg, OSU | SO | 3.21 | Undeclared | Copley, Ohio |
| Sean Veit, OSU | SR | 3.25 | Electrical Engineering | Hudson, Ohio |
| Logan Westcott, OSU | JR | 3.46 | Engineering | Sugar Land, Texas |
| Women’s Swimming and Diving | ||||
| Name, School | Year | GPA | Major | Hometown |
| Natalie Bojko, OSU | So. | 3.32 | Exercise Science | North Canton, Ohio |
| Lindsay Goodson, OSU | SR | 3.06 | Marketing | San Ramon, Calif. |
| Abigail Grantstein, OSU | JR | 3.50 | Business | Wichita, Kan. |
| Erin Greene, OSU | SO | 3.26 | English | Crawfordville, Fla. |
| Kears tin Hetrick, OSU | JR | 3.01 | Communications | Copley, Ohio |
| Katie Kolles , OSU | JR | 3.52 | Biology | Edina, Minn. |
| Kylie Lancken, OSU | JR | 3.26 | Business/Marketing | Sydney, Australia |
| Kristina Lipskis , OSU | JR | 3.86 | International Business | St. Charles, Ill. |
| Meaghan Mahoney, OSU | SO | 3.39 | Business | Plantation, Fla. |
| Stephanie Raezer, OSU | SR | 3.26 | Sports & Leisure Studies | Newark, Del. |
| Kim Reinhardt, OSU | SO | 3.55 | Psychology | Henryville, Pa. |
| Ashley Routson, OSU | JR | 3.60 | Psychology/Criminology | Montgomery, N.Y. |
| Katie Severson, OSU | SR | 3.73 | Chemical Engineering | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Deanna Strunk, OSU | SO | 3.36 | Speech & Hearing | West Lawn, Pa. |
| Wrestling | ||||
| Name, School | Year | GPA | Major | Hometown |
| Nathaniel Augustson, OSU | JR | 3.03 | Political Science | Rio Rancho, N.M. |
| Ryan Derr, OSU | JR | 3.37 | Communications | Oregon, Ohio |
| Nick Harpster, OSU | JR | 3.63 | Finance | Wapakonetta, Ohio |
| Blake Kaplan, OSU | SR | 3.22 | Finance | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Jeff Ratliff, OSU | SR | 3.29 | Political Science | Marion, Ohio |
| Ryan Rhodes, OSU | SO | 3.63 | Pre-Business | Toledo, Ohio |
* For all sports, year indicates academic classification
Big Ten Announces Winter Academic All-Conference Teams
Park Ridge, IL — As the winter term of the 2003-04 school year comes to a close, the Big Ten recognizes a total of 409 winter sports student-athletes who have been named to the Academic All-Conference Team. The list of honored student-athletes features 28 men’s and 47 women’s basketball players, 30 men’s and 49 women’s gymnasts, 83 men’s and 125 women’s swimmers and divers and 47 wrestlers. To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, athletes must be letterwinners in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a career grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better.
At least three Big Ten student-athletes have maintained unblemished GPAs, including a gymnast and a pair of swimmers from three separate institutions. Ohio State sophomore gymnast Emily Sineway (Exploring) maintains an unblemished GPA and is joined in the exclusive group by two sophomore swimmers in Minnesota’s Abigail Ruess (Accounting) and Purdue’s Mark Wolfred (Engineering).
The Big Ten Academic All-Conference honorees also achieved excellence outside of the classroom. Penn State senior Kelly Mazzante (Advertising & Public Relations) was named the Academic All-American of the Year, the nation’s top honor, while collecting back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year awards and becoming the League’s all-time leading scorer. Additional First Team All-Big Ten selections who garnered academic honors include Lady Lions’ teammate Tanisha Wright (Jr., Elementary Education), the two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and Minnesota’s Lindsay Whalen (Sr., Sports Management). Also on the court, Michigan State junior Chris Hill (Finance) was tabbed as a First Team Academic All-American after earning Third Team accolades last year, becoming the first Big Ten men’s basketball player to be selected in back-to-back seasons since PSU’s John Amaechi in 1994 and 1995. Hill was joined on the All-Big Ten Second Team by another Academic All-League pick in Illinois sophomore Dee Brown (Sport Management). In women’s gymnastics, Michigan junior Elise Ray (English) equaled a Big Ten Championships record by winning four events, becoming just the third student-athlete in Conference annals to accomplish that feat. On the men’s side, a pair of back-to-back League champions also garnered Academic All-Big Ten accolades as Illinois’ Ben Newman (Jr., Finance) repeated as the pommel horse winner while Michigan’s Andrew DiGiore (So, Biomedical Engineering) won the vault for the second straight year. In the pool, Wisconsin’s Bethany Pendleton (Sr., Biology) was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and the Championships while Ohio State’s Mitch Richeson (Jr., Computer Science Engineering) collected Conference Diver of the Year honors. In wrestling, the Illini’s Alex Tirapelle (So., Accountancy) was chosen as the Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and Championship while collecting academic laurels.
The 2003-04 Winter Academic All-Big Ten selections are listed below by school, along with the number of winter sports sponsored by each university:
School-by-School Breakdown
School – Honorees, Winter Sports
Illinois – 37, 6
Indiana – 20, 5
Iowa – 53, 7
Michigan – 35, 7
Michigan St. – 32, 6
Minnesota – 52, 7
Northwestern – 22, 5
Ohio State – 46, 7
Penn State – 48, 7
Purdue – 38, 5
Wisconsin – 26, 5
