By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – As the Ohio Valley Conference begins to unveil its academic honors for the 2023-24 academic year, Tennessee Tech student-athletes were well represented among the league's Academic Medal of Honor recipients on Friday, earning 35 awards.
The OVC Academic Medal of Honor is annually awarded to student-athletes who achieve the highest grade point average in a conference-sponsored sport. Every Academic Medal of Honor recipient for 2023-24 reached a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Tennessee Tech's recipients included:
BASEBALL (6) – Troy Baunsgard, Theo Bryant IV, Peyton Calitri, Drew Mattox, Tanner Shiver, Emery Wright;
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (1) – Reghan Grimes;
BEACH VOLLEYBALL (4) – Katie DiRaimondo, Madolyn Isringhausen, Olivia Taylor, McKenna Young;
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY (3) – Makaleigh Jessee, Riley Knoyle, Riley Spangler;
WOMEN'S GOLF (1) – Gittle Sciolis;
WOMEN'S SOCCER (9) – Selma Askildsen, Maggie Conrad, Gabby Garcia, Bella Garrett, Melina Hamm, Sam Schroeffel, Reagan Smiley, Katie Toney, Yao Giada Zhou;
SOFTBALL (6) – Carmen Betts, Mac Fitzgerald, Jordan Key, Abby Shoulders, S.J. Talley, Emily York;
MEN'S TENNIS (2) – Lucas Bitzer, Lukas Krause;
WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD (3) – Anya Akili, Carolina Bannach, Makaleigh Jessee;
VOLLEYBALL (5) – Katie DiRaimondo, Madolyn Isringhausen, Jordan Karlen, Olivia Taylor and McKenna Young.
In all, 310 student-athletes in the OVC earned the Academic Medal of Honor, the second-most in conference history as it trails only the 356 awarded following the 2020-21 academic year. Fifty earned the honor for multiple sports – including five for Tennessee Tech -- and only counted once toward the final tally.
Tech had the fourth-most awards in this class with 35, with only Southeast Missouri (45), Eastern Illinois (41) and Lindenwood (38) receiving more. Across the conference, women's soccer had the most honorees with 61, followed by women's track and field (43) and softball (30).
In the past five years, over 1,500 student-athletes have earned the OVC Academic Medal of Honor.
The conference's academic awards will continue to be announced next week as the OVC will announce its Commissioner's Honor Roll on Monday, followed by the Overall/Team Academic Award winners on Tuesday.
