UNIVERSITY PARK — Men’s basketball fifth-year senior John Harrar and women’s volleyball senior Jonni Parker have been selected as Penn State’s 2021-22 recipients of the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor.
The Big Ten, the nation’s oldest collegiate conference, commemorates the 107th anniversary with the Big Ten Medal of Honor — awarded to one male and one female student from the graduating class of each member institution who has demonstrated excellence on and off the field throughout their college career.
The conference’s most exclusive award was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence. The Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student from the graduating class of each university who had “attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work.”
In 1982, the award was expanded to include one female student-athlete from each member institution. Big Ten institutions feature early 10,000 students competing in intercollegiate athletics, but only 28 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In more than 100 years of the Big Ten Medal of Honor, nearly 1,400 students have earned this distinction.
Parker is the fourth women’s volleyball student-athlete to win Big Ten Medal of Honor laurels, Michele Robinson (1992), Nia Grant (2015) and Haleigh Washington (2018). Harrar is the second Nittany Lion men’s basketball student-athlete to earn the award, joining John Amaechi (1995).
Matmen recognized
UNIVERSITY PARK — Two members of Penn State’s NCAA Champion wrestling team earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. Senior Nick Lee and junior Max Dean were both selected as third team CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.
Dean became a three-time All-American this past March and won his first-ever NCAA title in his first year as a Nittany Lion. He won the crown at 197, capping off a Penn State perfect 5-0 run in the NCAA finals.
Lee became Penn State’s first-ever five-time All-American in 2021-22, winning a second straight individual championship at 141 pounds. Lee posted a perfect 22-0 record during his senior campaign.
