Indiana University Athletics

Powell, Kleimola Earn Big Ten Medal of Honor
6/26/2020 1:59:00 PM | General, Women's Water Polo, Wrestling, Academic Services
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Big Ten Conference celebrated its 106th class of recipients who earned the esteemed Big Ten Medal of Honor earlier this year. Twenty-eight students from 17 different sports were honored with the prestigious award, which was established in 1915 and was the first award in intercollegiate athletics to demonstrate support for the educational emphasis placed on athletics.
The Big Ten Medal of Honor is 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.
Emily Powell (Water Polo) and Jake Kleimola earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor for Indiana.
Emily Powell finished her career at Indiana by helping the Hoosiers finish with a 13-5 record, including a 10-game winning streak to finish off the season and was named a captain twice in both 2019 and 2020. She finished the season with three goals, nine assists and eight steals, including a season-high three assists against Villanova at the Indiana Classic. Powell finished with a career line of 37 goals, 59 assists and 69 steals and was a member of the Fifth-Place CWPA Championship team.
Putting in work both in and out of the pool, Powell, a political science major, was named to the Outstanding CWPA Women's Varsity Scholar-Athlete Team and named an Outstanding ACWPC All-Academic honoree in both 2017 and 2018. Once the Hoosiers moved to the MPSF in 2019, she was named an MPSF All-Academic Scholar Athlete and Academic All-Big Ten her junior season. Powell was also involved in many organizations throughout her time at IU. This list includes the Hutton's Honor College and Chi Alpha Sigma, which is the national college athlete honor society. She was also a part of the Athletic Director's Council on Diversity and Inclusion as the representative from the Water Polo team, which participated in monthly meetings with Indiana University's athletic director, Fred Glass. Upon graduation, Powell is expected to start law school back home in Australia. ?
Kleimola, a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree earned 10 wins this season and was the runner-up at the Journeyman Classic. In his junior season, Kleimola finished in seventh-place at the Big Ten Championships. Kleimola has been a Hoosier Hero Peer Mentor to fellow student-athletes and regularly volunteers his time in the Bloomington community for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, St. Mark's, Everybody Plays and Read Across America. Kleimola is a Finance major at Indiana.
Big Ten schools currently feature more than 9,800 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, more than 1,500 students have earned this distinction.
This year's honorees claimed national and conference academic and athletic accolades, along with numerous Big Ten team and individual championships. Every recipient claimed Academic All-Big Ten or All-Big Ten recognition at least once in their career, while pursuing diverse fields of study with a list of majors that includes accounting, advertising management, aerospace engineering, biochemistry, biological sciences, business and marketing education, business operations management, communication, criminology and criminal justice, early childhood education and exceptional needs, economics, electrical engineering, finance, human physiology, journalism, kinesiology, management, physical therapy, political science, psychology, recreation, sport and tourism, Spanish, sport management and others.
The Big Ten Medal of Honor is 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.
Emily Powell (Water Polo) and Jake Kleimola earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor for Indiana.
Emily Powell finished her career at Indiana by helping the Hoosiers finish with a 13-5 record, including a 10-game winning streak to finish off the season and was named a captain twice in both 2019 and 2020. She finished the season with three goals, nine assists and eight steals, including a season-high three assists against Villanova at the Indiana Classic. Powell finished with a career line of 37 goals, 59 assists and 69 steals and was a member of the Fifth-Place CWPA Championship team.
Putting in work both in and out of the pool, Powell, a political science major, was named to the Outstanding CWPA Women's Varsity Scholar-Athlete Team and named an Outstanding ACWPC All-Academic honoree in both 2017 and 2018. Once the Hoosiers moved to the MPSF in 2019, she was named an MPSF All-Academic Scholar Athlete and Academic All-Big Ten her junior season. Powell was also involved in many organizations throughout her time at IU. This list includes the Hutton's Honor College and Chi Alpha Sigma, which is the national college athlete honor society. She was also a part of the Athletic Director's Council on Diversity and Inclusion as the representative from the Water Polo team, which participated in monthly meetings with Indiana University's athletic director, Fred Glass. Upon graduation, Powell is expected to start law school back home in Australia. ?
Kleimola, a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree earned 10 wins this season and was the runner-up at the Journeyman Classic. In his junior season, Kleimola finished in seventh-place at the Big Ten Championships. Kleimola has been a Hoosier Hero Peer Mentor to fellow student-athletes and regularly volunteers his time in the Bloomington community for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, St. Mark's, Everybody Plays and Read Across America. Kleimola is a Finance major at Indiana.
Big Ten schools currently feature more than 9,800 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, more than 1,500 students have earned this distinction.
This year's honorees claimed national and conference academic and athletic accolades, along with numerous Big Ten team and individual championships. Every recipient claimed Academic All-Big Ten or All-Big Ten recognition at least once in their career, while pursuing diverse fields of study with a list of majors that includes accounting, advertising management, aerospace engineering, biochemistry, biological sciences, business and marketing education, business operations management, communication, criminology and criminal justice, early childhood education and exceptional needs, economics, electrical engineering, finance, human physiology, journalism, kinesiology, management, physical therapy, political science, psychology, recreation, sport and tourism, Spanish, sport management and others.
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