CHAMPAIGN Ill. – The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) announced Monday its 2024-25 Freshman of the Year honorees. Kasparas Jakucionis (basketball) was selected as the Illini's top male competing in his first collegiate season, while Chloe Cho (gymnastics) and Melissa Wullschleger (track & field) were named co-winners as the top, first-year female athletes for the Fighting Illini. The recipients were selected by vote of Illinois head coaches and DIA executive staff.
Jakucionis, who was a unanimous selection to the Freshman All-America Team by The Athletic, led the Illini in scoring and assists, averaging 15.2 ppg and 4.7 apg, and was third on the team in rebounding at 5.7 rpg. He equaled the most points ever scored by an Illini freshman, totaling 494 during his 33 starts, and set UI rookie season records shooting 84.5% from the free throw line and tallying eight 20-point games. Jakucionis was also a Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection, first-team NABC All-Great Lakes District, second-team All-Big Ten by AP, and third-team All-Big Ten by the league coaches and media.
Jakucionis is the seventh member of the Illini men's basketball program to earn Illinois Freshman of the Year honors and the fourth to do so under head coach Brad Underwood, joining Ayo Dosunmu (2019), Kofi Cockburn (2020), and Andre Curbelo (2021).
Cho, the 2024-25 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, competed in all 15 meets during her freshman campaign, only missing one event in one meet. She earned All-Big Ten first team and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors while recording 16 titles - four vault, two bars, three beam, three floor, and four all-around - and finished the year ranked in the top 60 nationally in vault (60), beam (39), floor (56) and all-around (30). Cho also set the program record by earning four Big Ten Freshman of the Week recognitions throughout the season.
Wullschleger became a first-team All-American in the heptathlon with a program record 5,928 points in her fourth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She is the program's third-ever All-American in the event and the first since Carmel Corbett in 1996. As part of her school-record breaking score, Wullschleger also threw the program's third-furthest javelin, 44.20m (145-0), to propel her into the top four at the national meet. A month prior to the national meet she took fourth in the heptathlon at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships with 5,749 points. During the indoor season she placed seventh in the pentathlon at the Big Ten Indoor Championships with the program's fourth-highest score of 3,984 points.
Cho is the eighth member of the Illini women's gymnastics program to earn Freshman of the Year, and the first since Mia Takekawa in 2020. Wullschleger is the 11th Freshman of the Year for the Illinois women's track & field program and the second in as many seasons following teammate Elizabeth Ndudi's selection in 2024. Cho and Wullschleger are the first female duo to share the honor since Susanna Kallur (track & field) and Jennifer McGaffigan (tennis) in 2001.
Jakucionis, who was a unanimous selection to the Freshman All-America Team by The Athletic, led the Illini in scoring and assists, averaging 15.2 ppg and 4.7 apg, and was third on the team in rebounding at 5.7 rpg. He equaled the most points ever scored by an Illini freshman, totaling 494 during his 33 starts, and set UI rookie season records shooting 84.5% from the free throw line and tallying eight 20-point games. Jakucionis was also a Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection, first-team NABC All-Great Lakes District, second-team All-Big Ten by AP, and third-team All-Big Ten by the league coaches and media.
Jakucionis is the seventh member of the Illini men's basketball program to earn Illinois Freshman of the Year honors and the fourth to do so under head coach Brad Underwood, joining Ayo Dosunmu (2019), Kofi Cockburn (2020), and Andre Curbelo (2021).
Cho, the 2024-25 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, competed in all 15 meets during her freshman campaign, only missing one event in one meet. She earned All-Big Ten first team and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors while recording 16 titles - four vault, two bars, three beam, three floor, and four all-around - and finished the year ranked in the top 60 nationally in vault (60), beam (39), floor (56) and all-around (30). Cho also set the program record by earning four Big Ten Freshman of the Week recognitions throughout the season.
Wullschleger became a first-team All-American in the heptathlon with a program record 5,928 points in her fourth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She is the program's third-ever All-American in the event and the first since Carmel Corbett in 1996. As part of her school-record breaking score, Wullschleger also threw the program's third-furthest javelin, 44.20m (145-0), to propel her into the top four at the national meet. A month prior to the national meet she took fourth in the heptathlon at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships with 5,749 points. During the indoor season she placed seventh in the pentathlon at the Big Ten Indoor Championships with the program's fourth-highest score of 3,984 points.
Cho is the eighth member of the Illini women's gymnastics program to earn Freshman of the Year, and the first since Mia Takekawa in 2020. Wullschleger is the 11th Freshman of the Year for the Illinois women's track & field program and the second in as many seasons following teammate Elizabeth Ndudi's selection in 2024. Cho and Wullschleger are the first female duo to share the honor since Susanna Kallur (track & field) and Jennifer McGaffigan (tennis) in 2001.
