CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – After a standout year on the courts and in the classroom, Kenta Miyoshi was named to the Academic All-America First Team by College Sports Communicators, the organization announced on Wednesday.Â
Miyoshi is the first student-athlete in program history to be tabbed with Academic All-America First Team honors, and he is the first Illini since 2013 to be an Academic All-American.
Miyoshi was one of seven Division I student-athletes from across the country to secure a spot on the Academic All-America First Team, while he was one of only two Big Ten student-athletes to achieve that distinction, along with UCLA's Alexander Hoogmartens.
The Kawasaki, Japan, native put together the best season of his career during the 2024-25 slate, winning the Big Ten Player of the Year award while also claiming ITA Singles All-America and unanimous All-Big Ten First Team status. Collecting a career-best 30 singles wins during his junior campaign, Miyoshi finished the year at No. 10 in the ITA singles rankings after being in the top 20 for the entirety of the spring.
Majoring in strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship, Miyoshi garnered CSC Academic All-District accolades for the second straight season.
Illinois' Academic All-America History
1987: Andrew Lobb (Second Team)
1999: Oliver Freelove (Second Team)
1999:Â Jakub Teply (Second Team)
2003: Chris Martin (Second Team)
2004: Chris Martin (Second Team)
2005: Chris Martin (Second Team)
2013: Bruno Abdelnour (Second Team)
2025: Kenta Miyoshi (First Team)
CSC Academic All-America Teams
First Team
Pierre-Yves Bailey, Texas
Jay Friend, Arizona
Alexander Hoogmartens, UCLA
Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State
Lui Maxted, TCU
Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois
Michael Zheng, Columbia
Second Team
Samir Banerjee, Stanford
Max Basing, Stanford
Ozan Baris, Michigan State
Lucas Brown, Texas
Sebastian Gorzny, Texas
Roan Jones, Alabama
Connor Thomson, South Carolina
Third Team
Isaac Becroft, Oklahoma State
Sai Dore, Dayton
Dhakshineswar Suresh Ekambaram, Wake Forest
Peter Makk, USC
