WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Academic All-Big Ten list of honorees from the fall sports season features 51 student-athletes that compete for Purdue Athletics.
Football led the way with 22 Academic All-Big Ten honorees this fall. Cross Country produced 15 (9 women, 6 men), while Volleyball and Soccer both had seven honorees.
Cross Country’s Paige Hazelrigg garnered special recognition for her flawless 4.0 cumulative GPA through the end of her sophomore year at Purdue. She is one of 21 Boilermakers among the fall sports to now be a multi-year Academic All-Big Ten honoree. Headlining that group of 21 are two fellow runners – four-time honoree Nathan Walker and three-time recipient Katherine Rumsey.
During the 2024-25 school year, the Boilermakers had 248 Academic All-Big Ten honorees and 61 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten, student-athletes must be enrolled full-time at their university for a minimum of 12 months and carry a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition, announced in the summer, is based on a 3.7-plus yearly or cumulative GPA for sophomores and above. Student-athletes to transfer in after a full year at another Big Ten university are also considered eligible for the conference’s academic accolades.
Volleyball’s Taylor Anderson and Kenna Wollard both earned Academic All-Big Ten accolades for the second year in a row. They were also named AVCA All-Midwest Region and first-team All-Big Ten, with Wollard being selected as the Midwest Region Player of the Year. Other All-Big Ten honorees to also make the grade at an Academic All-Big Ten level included Cross Country’s Douglas Buckeridge and Walker, Football’s Spencer Porath, and Volleyball’s Akasha Anderson and Ryan McAleer.
From Soccer, Lauren Adam, Emily Edwards and Emilia Deppe were all recognized as Academic All-District by the College Sports Communicators and Academic All-Big Ten. Academic All-District honorees for Cross Country, Football and Volleyball will be announced later this school year.
Including Hazelrigg, eight of Purdue’s fall Academic All-Big Ten honorees have compiled at least 3.9 cumulative GPAs. That group includes Adam and Edwards from Soccer; Cross Country’s Julia Economou, Quintin Lowe and Elise Peckinpaugh; Football’s Luke Shorter; and Volleyball’s Julia Kane.
The Big Ten Conference recognized a total of 1,845 student-athletes as Academic All-Big Ten honorees for the fall sports season. That total includes 798 from football, 431 from soccer, 340 from cross country, 146 from volleyball and 130 from field hockey.
Purdue’s fall Academic All-Big Ten Honorees & majors by sport
(Years in parentheses are those in which he or she was Academic All-Big Ten)
Names in bold have 4.0 cumulative GPAs
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY (6)
• Douglas Buckeridge – Mathematics/Statistics (2024)
• Hugh Jacobsmeyer – Civil Engineering
• Quintin Lowe – Environmental & Natural Resources Engineering (2024)
• Jason Polydoris – Mechanical Engineering
• Nathan Walker – Mathematics Education (2022, 2023, 2024)
• Nerius White – Kinesiology
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY (9)
• Julia Economou – Biomedical Health Sciences (2024)
• Paige Hazelrigg – Biomedical Health Sciences: Pre-Dentistry (2024)
• Layla Henderson – Psychological Sciences
• Sofia Muñoz – Mechanical Engineering (2024)
• Elise Peckinpaugh – Psychological Sciences (2024)|
• Lauren Pegher – Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering
• Katherine Rumsey – Mechanical Engineering (2023, 2024)
• Ally Wigand – Biomedical Engineering (2024)
• Sophia Yon – Industrial Engineering
FOOTBALL (22)
• Andrew Adkison – Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering (2024)
• Winston Berglund – Selling & Sales Management (2024)
• Smiley Bradford – Communications
• Nolan Buckman – Selling & Sales Management (2024)
• George Burhenn – Selling & Sales Management (2024)
• Drake Carlson – Finance (2024)
• Bakyne Coly – Studio Arts & Technology (2024)
• Sam Goellner – Economics
• Antonio Harris – Finance
• Demeco Kennedy – Sociology
• Luke Klare – Finance
• Aveyawn Madry – Computer & Information Technology
• Bennett Meredith – Bachelor’s: Selling & Sales MGMT / Master’s: Sports MGMT (2024)
• Max Parrott – Kinesiology
• Spencer Porath – Finance
• Kaleb Richmond – Selling & Sales Management
• Luke Shorter – Integrated Business & Engineering
• Sterling Smith – Selling & Sales Management
• Joey Tanona – Film & Video Production
• Ethan Trent – Selling & Sales Management (2024)
• Jack Weeter – Economics
• Drew Woodruff – Mechanical Engineering
SOCCER (7)
• Lauren Adam – Biomedical Health Sciences: Pre-Dentistry (2024)
• Katrina Chong – Kinesiology
• Zoe Cuneio – Communications
• Emilia Deppe – General Management
• Emily Edwards – Anthropology
• Dina Frenkel – Kinesiology
• Chiara Singarella – Psychological Sciences
VOLLEYBALL (7)
• Akasha Anderson – Political Science
• Taylor Anderson – Communications (2024)
• Julia Kane – Natural Resources & Environmental Science (2024)
• Ryan McAleer – Communications
• Nataly Moravec – Economics
• Allie Shondell – Civil Engineering
• Kenna Wollard – Biomedical Health Sciences: Pre-Dentistry (2024)
51 Boilermakers Receive Academic All-Big Ten Honors for Fall Season
21 of Purdue's 51 honorees are now multi-year Academic All-Big Ten honorees.