Park Ridge, Ill. - University of Minnesota soccer senior Sara Clancy was honored by the Big Ten recently, being named to the initial list of Distinguished Scholars, announced by the league office. 

Clancy, an education major, posted a 3.72 grade point average during her junior campaign.  The Cedar Rapids, Iowa native is also a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and scored a pair of goals last season. 

The Big Ten Conference recognized a total of 498 student-athletes who were selected as the inaugural recipients of the Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award. The list featured student-athletes from every institution and 32 different sports who have earned a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year.

In February of 2008, Big Ten Faculty Representatives established a new conference academic recognition 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 new award encompasses only student-athletes 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 their academic career.

Clancy and her Golden Gopher teammates will begin the 2009 season on Aug. 21 when Minnesota opens the season with a 6:00 pm home date with South Dakota State.