Lausch Earns Big Ten Sportsmanship Award; Other Highlights
School of Education and Social Policy alumnus Jack Lausch (BS25), who played both baseball and football for the Wildcats, received the Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award for the 2025-26 school year.
Lausch and Northwestern's other award winner, cross country athlete Skye Ellis of the McCormick School of Engineering, distinguished themselves "through sportsmanship and ethical behavior," according to the conference. Honorees also must be in good academic standing and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside the sports-competition setting.
Lausch, an All-Big Ten outfielder, also won the Paul Stevens Life Teammate Award, presented annually to the Northwestern baseball senior who best embodies the spirit of a Life Teammate — a leader on the field, in the locker room and in the community — as voted by teammates. As the award's recipient, Lausch wore No. 13 for the 2026 season, commemorating the life of Will Trautwein, son of former Northwestern baseball player John Trautwein and brother of former Wildcat Michael Trautwein.
Lausch, selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 17th round of the 2026 Major League Baseball draft, was the first Northwestern athlete to play both baseball and football for the Wildcats since Dan Kubiuk in 2015-16. He was a three-time College Sports Coaches Academic All-District honoree (2024 football, 2025 and 2026 baseball). His 16 home runs and 132 total bases in his final season at Northwestern both rank second in program history, and he is the first Wildcat to lead the team in batting average and home runs since Shawn Goosenberg in 2021.
Other Highlights
- Daniel Svärd (BS26), of Järfälla, Sweden, was named a Cobalt All-America Scholar by the Golf Coaches Association of America. He concluded his Northwestern career with a 19th-place finish at the NCAA Athens Regional. Svärd earned 15 top-five finishes and three collegiate wins across his career, and he joined Luke Donald and Sid Richardson as the third Wildcat in program history to win two individual conference championships. He left Northwestern with a career stroke average of 71.14, second only to Donald in the Wildcat record book.Svärd earned membership on the PGA Tour Americas for the remainder of the 2026 season and made his professional debut at the Explore NB Open in New Brunswick, Canada, where he shot an opening-round 64.
- Jordan Clayton (BS26) and Justin Mullins (BS26) earned spots on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court, which recognizes individual players' academic achievement in the classroom. Clayton transferred to the University of Massachusetts Amherst after the season.The NABC Honors Court includes junior, senior and graduate student men's basketball players who finished the 2025-26 year with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher. At least one Wildcat has been included in the Honors Court in each of the past five seasons, and Northwestern has garnered 12 Honors Court selections in the past two years.