IOWA CITY, Iowa — Several Big Ten Conference and University awards were presented at the 2024 UI Athletics Senior Student-Athlete Reception Friday afternoon at Kinnick Stadium.
Samantha Cary (soccer) and Gratt Reed (men’s track and field) were named Iowa’s Big Ten Medal of Honor recipients, Vipasha Mehra (tennis) and Jeremiah Pittman (football) were awarded Big Ten Post-Graduate Scholarships, Nylah Perry (women’s track and field) and Deontae Craig (football) earned the Center for Inclusive Academic Excellence Student Leadership Award, and MJ McNary (field hockey) and Daniel Klysh (men’s cross country/track & field) earned the University’s Robert F. Ray Faculty Award.
The Big Ten Medal of Honor is the conference’s most exclusive award, and 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 male and one female student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had “attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work.”
A two-year team captain, Cary finished her career as the all-time leader in minutes (8,322), games played (97) and starts (96) at Iowa. She helped the Hawkeyes to each of the first two Big Ten Tournament titles in program history. Anchored by Cary, the Iowa defense held opponents to a program record 13 shutouts and 0.76 goals against average last season. Cary was named Defensive Player of the 2023 Big Ten Tournament and was a three-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week last fall. The St. Charles, Missouri, native was a second-team All-Big Ten honoree, a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, and served at the Iowa Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (ISAAC) president for the 2022-23 academic year. She is Iowa’s first United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American and the first Hawkeye selected in the NWSL Draft. Cary currently plays for IFK Norrköping in Sweden’s top professional league.
Reed, a native of Atlantic, Iowa, is a six-time All-American in the sprints and hurdles for the Hawkeyes. He has made is mark in the Iowa record books, running on school record-setting 4×100-meter (38.64) and shuttle hurdle relays (56.74). He has run on four of the top 10 4×100-meter relays in school history, ranks fourth in school history in the indoor 200 meters (20.82), fifth in the 110-meter hurdles…
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