ROSEMONT, Ill. – Seventy-one UCLA student-athletes were honored Monday by the Big Ten Conference, which announced its Distinguished Scholar Awards for 2025-26. Qualifiers recorded minimum grade-point averages (GPAs) of 3.7 or higher and earned Academic All-Big Ten awards during the recently-completed academic year.

Rowing’s 18 Distinguished Scholars led all UCLA programs. Track & field placed 10 (eight women, two men) on the list. Women’s water polo added six, while gymnastics and swimming & diving each had five. Twenty-two Bruins became two-time honorees. UCLA joined the Big Ten in August 2024 and first had Distinguished Scholars recognized in 2024-25.

Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. In addition to the previously-mentioned criteria, recipients must have been enrolled full time at the institution for the entire previous academic year (two semesters or three quarters). The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for a student's academic career.

UCLA’S 2025-26 BIG TEN DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS
* - two-time honoree

Baseball (2)
Michael Barnett* (Political Science), Jack O’Connor (Economics)

Women’s Basketball (3)
Angela Dugalić (Education), Charlisse Leger-Walker (Education), Amanda Muse (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences)

Beach Volleyball (1)
Harper Cooper (Psychology)

Football (3)
Garrett DiGiorgio (Education), Russell Weir (International Development Studies), Sam Yoon (Mechanical Engineering)

Men’s Golf (2)
Trevor Garus (Sociology), Matthew Yamin* (Political Science)

Gymnastics (5)
Madisyn Anyimi* (Applied Mathematics), Carissa Clay (Marketing), Riley Jenkins (Psychology), Katelyn Rosen* (Communication), Mika Webster-Longin (History / Sociology)

Rowing (18)
Stella Bittman (English), Sarah Brunel (Public Affairs), Sandra Compagnucci (Political Science), Danielle DeFrancisci* (Statistics and Data Science), Andrea Djuric (Public Affairs), Maia Freeman (Sociology), Audrey Loeb* (Anthropology), Bridget McLaughlin (Political Science), Kamryn Monster* (Education), Cora Pearlstein (Anthropology), Bella Perez (Physiological Science), Anika Roche* (Political Science / Gender Studies), Francesca Rubeo (Statistics and Data Science), Sophie Sannes-Eckhoff (Biology), Natalia Serov (Political Science), Ruby Southwick (Mechanical Engineering), Zoe Staelens (Economics), Faye Turcotte* (Cognitive Science)

Men’s Soccer (1)
Kevin Box (Electrical and Computer Engineering)

Women’s Soccer (1)
Kara Croone (Political Science)

Swimming & Diving (5)
Catherine Andrews (Psychobiology), Josie Arbuckle (Individual Field of Concentration), Elena Dry* (Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology), Laura Fisher* (Biochemistry), Anna Wetteland (Statistics and Data Science)

Men’s Tennis (3)
Cassius Chinlund (History), Rudy Quan (Psychology), Will Steinberg (Computer Science)

Women’s Tennis (4)
Olivia Center (Cognitive Science), Ahmani Guichard* (Communication), Mia Jovic* (Business Economics), Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer (Environmental Science)

Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country (2)
Dev Doshi (Psychology), Shawn Toney* (Business Economics)

Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country (8)
Olivia Foody (Psychology), Sydney Johnson* (Education), Quinci Lott (Psychobiology), Ella McGillis (Business Economics), Jordan Robinson (Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology), Annika Salz* (Mathematics / Linguistics), Taylor Snaer (Psychology), Bella Witt (Education)

Men’s Volleyball (2)
Spencer Graves (Economics), Caleb Sapp (Psychology)

Women’s Volleyball (3)
Brooklyn Briscoe* (Communication), Kate Duffey (Communication), Kat Lutz* (Psychology)

Men’s Water Polo (2)
Alex Heenan (Mathematics/Economics), Max Matthews* (Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology)

Women’s Water Polo (6)
Lily Gess* (History), Natasha Kieckhafer* (Public Affairs), Joey Niz* (Sociology), Tali Stryker (Undeclared), Maile Turner (Psychology), Jojo Walters (Business Economics)