93 Wildcats Set for Spring Commencement
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A total of 93 current and former Wildcat student-athletes – including a dozen who will earn master’s degrees – are on track to graduate this week.
The University of Kentucky’s Spring Commencement ceremonies take place Friday through Sunday at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center (see schedule here). Adding the 22 student-athletes who graduated in December, UK Athletics is expected to have 115 graduates during the 2020-21 school year.
This semester’s graduates include two from the national champion rifle team and four from the national champion volleyball squad. Among all sports, 10 of the graduating Wildcats were All-Americans during their playing careers and 24 garnered all-conference honors.
Along with 88 student-athletes who are currently competing or recently completed eligibility, five additional Cats are expected to graduate after finishing their undergraduate work as part of UK Athletics’ Post-Eligibility program. Also known as the Cawood Ledford Scholarships, UK Athletics pays for tuition and books for scholarship student-athletes who return to school after completing their eligibility. Since its inception in 1989, more than 160 Wildcats have returned to graduate through the program.
Among the graduates are 12 who are earning master’s degrees, including all four seniors on the women’s tennis team – Lesedi Jacobs, Akvile Paražinskaite, Anastasia Tkachenko and Diana Tkachenko – who competed in the NCAA Tournament last week. Two more of the master’s recipients will continue as members of the 2021 Wildcat football team, offensive guard Luke Fortner and wide receiver Clevan Thomas.
Below is the list of expected graduates:
Baseball
Oraj Anu
Eddie Brooks – Cawood Ledford Post-Eligibility Scholarship
Chase Bryan
David Cheatle – Cawood Ledford Post-Eligibility Scholarship
T.J. Collett – master’s degree
Trey Dawson – Cawood Ledford Post-Eligibility Scholarship
Cam Hill
Sean Harney
Daniel Harper
Trae Harmon
+Zach Kammin
Coltyn Kessler
+Zeke Lewis
Trip Lockhart
Jimmy Ramsey
+Jaren Shelby
+indicates graduate school certificate
Men’s Basketball
Zan Payne
Olivier Sarr
Riley Welch
Women’s Basketball
Blair Green
KeKe McKinney
Chasity Patterson
Tatyana Wyatt
Football
Abule Abadi-Fitzgerald
Josh Ali
Marquez Bembry
Yusuf Corker
Jamin Davis
Max Duffy – master’s degree
Luke Fortner – master’s degree
Colin Goodfellow
Alex King
Tyler Markray
Matt Ruffolo
Josh Paschal
Clevan Thomas – master’s degree
Men’s Golf
Charles Burnett – Cawood Ledford Post-Eligibility Scholarship
Allen Hamilton
Zach Norris
Women’s Golf
Josephine Chang
Sarah Shipley
Gymnastics
Madison Averett
Mackenzie Harman
Megan Monfredi
Allison Snyder
Ella Warren
Rifle
Mason Joachim
Hailee Sigmon
Men’s Soccer
Kevin Barajas – Cawood Ledford Post-Eligibility Scholarship
Enrique Facusse
Leon Jones
Bailey Rouse
Women’s Soccer
Tatiana Hagan
Caroline Newland
Softball
Grace Baalman
Autumn Humes
Lauren Johnson
Mallory Peyton
Men’s Swimming and Diving
Louis Barker
Lukas Kraft
Chase Lane
Daniel Orcutt
Hank Siefert
Nick Smith
Women’s Swimming and Diving
Lauren Denham
Jaida Garrett
Hayley Griesser
Jaclyn Hill
Cara Hudson
Olivia Huffman
Payton Neff
Women’s Tennis
Lesedi Jacobs – master’s degree
Akvile Paražinskaite – master’s degree
Anastasia Tkachenko – master’s degree
Diana Tkachenko – master’s degree
Men’s Track and Field/Cross Country
Charles Lenford Jr.
Matthew Peare
Dwight St. Hillaire
Matthew Thomas – master’s degree
Kenroy Williams – master’s degree
Ben Young
Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country
Nicole Bagby
Alison D’Alessandro
Nicole Fautsch – master’s degree
Jade Gates
Carly Hinkle
Molly Leppelmeier
Janie O’Connor
Madisyn Peeples
Volleyball
Gabby Curry – master’s degree
Madison Lilley
Kendyl Paris
Avery Skinner
Graduation marks yet another milestone of academic success for UK student-athletes. Guided by UK Athletics’ Student-Athlete Experience Division, Wildcat student-athletes have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of better than 3.0 in 17 consecutive semesters, with grades for the spring semester set to be finalized next week. In November, UK student-athletes broke both school records in the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate and Federal Graduation Rate.
