ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced this week that 30 Maryland student-athletes competing in intercollegiate athletics were named Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award recipients. The list includes student-athletes from 12 different teams from the baseball, women's basketball, field hockey, football, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, men's soccer, women's soccer, track & field and volleyball programs who have recorded a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year.

Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. Similar to the Academic All-Big Ten honor, Distinguished Scholar Award recipients must be letterwinners in at least their second academic year at their institution. However, the Distinguished Scholar Award encompasses only students with a minimum GPA of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year, excluding summer school. The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for a student's academic career.