The Ohio State Department of Athletics honored this year's scholar athletes with a dinner at the Greater Columbus Convention Center Wednesday night.
The Scholar-Athlete Banquet, now in its 41st year, honors student athletes who have maintained a 3.0 cumulative grade point average through winter quarter. Various awards and scholarships are also given to senior athletes, including the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor.
"The purpose of this night is to recognize academic excellence," said John Macko, an academic counselor in athletics who helped coordinate the event.
The night began with an introduction by the chair of the OSU athletic council, T.K. Daniel.
"We are exceedingly proud of your accomplishments," he said in his opening remarks.
Of the 900 student-athletes at OSU, 475 were recognized as scholar athletes this year.
"This is a team," Daniel said.
Each scholar-athlete honored was presented with a plaque and a gift. This year's gift was a red T-shirt, courtesy of the Student-Athlete Advisory Board.
"I think that being a scholar athlete is definitely an incentive for our student athletes," said Vicki Melnick, assistant director of Student-Athlete Support Services. "A lot of the student athletes here tonight set this as a goal for themselves."
J.D. Bergman, a wrestler and senior in communication, is one of these student athletes. A finalist for the Big Ten Medal of Honor, Bergman said he takes a lot of pride in academics.
"This is a really nice accomplishment," Bergman said. "Believe it or not, it's tough to make it here."
Baseball player Dan DeLucia, gymnast Jimmy Wickham and thrower Lenny Jatsek were among the other male finalists for the Medal of Honor. The medal is awarded each year to a senior male and female athlete who has been most proficient in both academics and athletics. It has been presented by the Big Ten Conference to men since 1914 and to women since 1982. Winners receive $5,000 in postgraduate scholarship money.
The female finalists were fencer Siobhan Byrne, soccer player Lara Dickenmann, volleyball player Danielle Meyer and pistol team member Teresa Meyer.
The winners of the Medal of Honor were Jenna Griffin of the track team and volleyball player Daniel Mathews.
Other awards presented included the Corwin A. Fergus Memorial Award for scholar athletes who also possess positive character and citizenship qualities and the Leann Grimes-Davidge Award, presented to a female athlete who has shown campus or community involvement and leadership.
The women's tennis team and the men's diving team were awarded the Varsity "O" award, which is presented to the team with the highest GPA.
The scholar athlete honor and the other scholarships awarded provide student athletes with the motivation to stay focused, despite the time commitment sports demand.
"Having two practices a day makes getting here a little bit of a struggle," Bergman said. "But it is such an honor to be here."
Megan Savage can be reached at savage.119@osu.edu.
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