The Big Ten announced its 2011 Fall Academic All-Conference team on Wednesday, and 48 athletes from Iowa made the list.

The Hawkeyes set school records by having 11 field-hockey players and nine women’s cross-country runners qualify for the honor.

Those athletes were joined by 14 members of the football team — including defensive lineman Steve Bigach, an integrative physiology and mathematics major — nine soccer players, and four from the volleyball squad. The men’s cross-country squad had one representative, junior Cameron Rieger.

The Big Ten awarded 788 athletes from around the conference with the honor. Of those 788 honorees, only 14 carry perfect 4.0 grade-point averages. Iowa cross-country runner Kelsey Hart is one of them; the junior from West Branch is an integrative physiology major.

Iowa put the second-fewest number of athletes on the list this fall. Northwestern paced the league with 97 representatives from its fall sports, Indiana and Michigan State tied for second with 90 apiece, and Penn State came in fourth with 68. Illinois was the only conference team with fewer all-Big Ten honorees, with 44.

An athlete must carry a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better and be a letterwinner in at least her or his second year at school to be eligible for the award.

A complete list of winners can be found on BigTen.org.

— by Seth Roberts