Rutgers Athletics Awards and Honors Roundup

Scarlet Knights across a wide variety of fall and winter sports earned recognition this past week, headlined by national podium finishes, conference and national honors, and academic acknowledgements. This includes preseason, midseason, and postseason awards, watch lists, and national medals.

Swimming & Diving — Sturgill, Hoffman Medal at USA Diving Winter Nationals

Rutgers divers Bailee Sturgill and Katerina Hoffman had a standout showing at the 2025 USA Diving Winter Nationals, teaming up to earn a silver medal in the synchronized platform event with a second-place score of 488.91. Additionally, Sturgill added a second silver medal on synchronized 3M, as she teamed up with Lilly Witte of Indiana. The duo had a final score of 528.12, trailing the winning duo by roughly 31 points.

Sturgill and Witte won the synchronized 3M event in May during the USA Diving Nationals, but were unable to go back-to-back. Sturgill also competed on the 3M dive, while Hoffman also competed in the 1M and 3M events.

Sturgill was previously named the Big Ten Diver of the Week after winning the 3M dive against Princeton in November. She currently holds a spot on Rutgers’ all-time top-10 list in the 1M, 3M, and platform dive.

At the 2025 Winter Junior Nationals, Emilana Gonzalez finished fifth in the 50-meter freestyle at the East Regionals on the campus of Indiana University. She posted a time of 22.40, which was the second-fastest time in Rutgers program history. Several other Rutgers signees competed at the US Junior Nationals, as the Scarlet Knights recently announced a talented eight-person class.

Football — Raymond Wins Cornish Trophy

Rutgers running back Antwan Raymond picked up a major college football award, winning the Cornish Trophy as the most outstanding Canadian player in NCAA football. He was also named a semifinalist for the Doak Walker National Running Back Award. Safety Jett Elad was also named as one of the five finalists for the award.

Rutgers football previously earned key All-Big Ten honors as WR KJ Duff and RB Antwan Raymond were selected Second Team All-Big Ten by both coaches and media. In addition, OL Kwabena Asamoah, WR Ian Strong, and DB Bo Mascoe were selected as Big Ten Honorable Mentions by coaches and media.

Elad and placekicker Jai Patel were selected by Big Ten coaches as Big Ten Honorable Mentions, while the media selected punter Jakob Anderson and linebacker Dariel Djabome. Offensive lineman Gus Zilinskas was also given the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.

Field Hockey — Winter Named Second Team All-American

Rutgers star defender Puck Winter was named a 2025 Second Team All-American by the NFHCA yesterday after recording 31 defensive saves as a four-year starter for the Scarlet Knights. She scored 17 career goals with four assists for 38 points, with five goals, three assists, and six defensive saves in 2025, ranking second in the Big Ten and fifth nationally. Winter was also previously named the National Defensive Player of the Week.

Earlier this offseason, Puck Winter and captain Paulina Niklaus were also named First Team All-Mid-Atlantic Region, First Team All-Big Ten, and First Team All-ECAC. Olivia de Zwaan, Emily Nicholls, and Martha Goodridge won Freshman of the Week during the season, with Nicholls and Winter also earning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.

Gymnastics — Leese, Dildy Named Big Ten Gymnasts To Watch

Graduate student Emily Leese and senior Gabrielle Dildy were each named Big Ten Gymnasts to watch by the conference on Tuesday. Dildy made the list for the second straight year after a 2025 season in which she qualified as an individual on beam at the NCAA Regional Championships.

Her score of 9.850 also helped Rutgers qualify for NCAA Regionals for the first time in 11 seasons. She earned several team awards, including Most Valuable Gymnast, and led the Scarlet Knights with a 9.850 on floor and 9.800 on vault at the conference meet last season. She has career highs of 9.900 on vault, beam, and floor.

Leese is ready to make her return to competition after missing the 2025 season rehabbing from injury. She owns the program record in the vault with a 9.925, which Leese accomplished in both 2023 and 2024. She qualified for the 2023 NCAA Regionals on vault and boasts a 9.925 career high on floor and a 9.850 on beam. She is also a team captain for the second straight year and has a multitude of academic Big Ten honors to her name.

Rutgers will open their 2026 season with a tri-meet shortly after the New Year, hosting Temple and Brockport at Jersey Mike’s Arena on January 4th.

Academic Honors — Across the Board Recognition

Rutgers also celebrated academic excellence this week with 141 student-athletes named to the 2025 Fall Academic All-Big Ten list, representing a wide range of programs, including football and other fall varsity sports.

Cassidy Kidd (women’s cross country), Graham Kois (men’s soccer), and Rachel Quigley (women’s soccer) were highlighted on the Big Ten’s list for their perfect 4.0 GPAs. 65 football players were named to the list, including Sean Cooper, Bryan Felter, Henry Hughes Jr., Tyler Needham, Michael O’Connor, and Gus Zilinskas, who earned the honor four times as Rutgers student-athletes.

Each of the 141 student-athletes was on a fall varsity team, enrolled full-time at the institution for a minimum of 12 months, and received a cumulative term GPA of 3.0 or higher, showing the university’s commitment to balancing strong athletics and academics.

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