Pyle, Roettker Are Ohio State’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Winners

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Katie Pyle of the field hockey team and Dexter Roettker of the men’s gymnastics team were among 28 student-athletes conference-wide named Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners for the 2021-22 academic year, the conference office announced today.

One member of each varsity sports team on every campus was chosen by his or her institution as a Sportsmanship Award honoree, and two Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners were then selected from each institution. All of the Sportsmanship Award winners have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, these honorees must be in good academic standing and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.

Pyle, from Lititz, Pa., played in 66 games throughout her Ohio State career. Over her final two seasons – the spring of 2021 and fall of 2021 – she scored four goals and added three assists for 11 points. As a freshman in 2018, she had a career-high 11 points (five goals, one assist).

Off the field, Pyle graduated in May with her degree in human development and family science. Her next step is to pursue her baccalaureate certification and master’s degree in early childhood education with a focus area of kindergarten through fourth grade.

An Academic All-Big Ten and OSU Scholar-Athlete, Pyle interned during the summer of 2020 locally at Femergy as part of the Eugene D. Smith Leadership’s Bucks Go Pro program.

An active member of the community while a Buckeye, Pyle took part in the Feed the Funnel event all four years while at Ohio State. It was part of the BeKind project and was organized to help food insecurity throughout Ohio. Pyle and the rest of the volunteers packaged over 170,000 meals for families in need.

Roettker, from Jackson, Ohio, contributed to the Buckeyes’ rotation consistently throughout the past four years. This season, as a team captain and leader on and off the floor, Roettker helped Ohio State to its first regular-season Big Ten Title and finished with All-Big Ten Second Team honors at the championship meet as he was the runner-up on the vault.

Roettker is committed to bettering the Columbus community as he continues to volunteer at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus, specifically working with the tenant advocacy project (TAP) to help people fight unfair evictions.

In the classroom, Roettker was named an Ohio State Scholar Athlete all four years as well as a 2021 College Gymnastics Association First Team Scholar All-American and multi-year Academic All-Big Ten honoree. He graduated this spring with a degree in finance and had a full-time position in Columbus secured before graduation.