Kentucky Ranks Third in SEC Winter Honor Roll Honorees

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A total of 74 University of Kentucky student-athletes earned a place on the 2021-22 Winter Sports Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll, announced Friday by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.
 
Overall, UK had the third-highest number of honorees in the league, while gymnastics ranked first and men’s basketball and women’s swimming and diving ranked third in their respective sports.
 
The 2021-22 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2021 spring, summer and fall terms. UK had five representatives from men’s basketball, six from women’s basketball, 16 from gymnastics, seven from rifle, 15 from men’s swimming and diving, and 25 from women’s swimming and diving.  Among other qualifications, a student-athlete must have a 3.0 grade-point average for the preceding academic year or a cumulative 3.0 GPA in order to be named to the list.
 
In addition to the academic success, Kentucky teams also had success in competition in the winter. Men’s and women’s basketball both earned bids into the NCAA Tournament with the women’s basketball team claiming the 2022 SEC Tournament Championship. Gymnastics scored a program-record score during the year and narrowly missed advancing from an NCAA Regional to the national championships. Rifle claimed its second straight national championship and were Great America Rifle Conference champions. Men’s and women’s swimming and diving combined for 18 All-America honors, 15 SEC medals and 12 school records this season.    
 
2021-22 SEC WINTER SPORTS ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL
Kentucky – Sport – Major
Brennan Canada – M Basketball – Communication
Davion Mintz – M Basketball – Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Zan Payne – M Basketball – Communication
Jacob Toppin – M Basketball – Communication
Kareem Watkins, Jr. – M Basketball – Finance
Robyn Benton – W Basketball – Journalism
Blair Green – W Basketball – Kinesiology; Communication
Treasure Hunt – W Basketball – Media Arts & Studies
Emma King – W Basketball – Human Health Sciences
Nyah Leveretter – W Basketball Journalism
Olivia Owens – W Basketball – US Culture and Business Practices
Raina Albores – Gymnastics – Kinesiology
Josephine Angeny – Gymnastics – Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Bailey Bunn – Gymnastics – Kinesiology
Makenna Clarke – Gymnastics – Health Promotion
Carissa Clay – Gymnastics – Kinesiology
Hailey Davis – Gymnastics – Management
Kaitlin Deguzman – Gymnastics – Communication
Anna Haigis – Gymnastics – Kinesiology
Kassidy Howell – Gymnastics – Kinesiology
Ashlyn Laclair – Gymnastics – Social Work
Shealyn Luksik – Gymnastics – Human Health Sciences
Isabella Magnelli – Gymnastics – Merchandising, Apparels, and Textiles
Cally Nixon – Gymnastics – Social Work
Arianna Patterson – Gymnastics – Digital Media & Design
Elyssa Roberts – Gymnastics – Biosystems Engineering
Raena Worley – Gymnastics – Kinesiology
Richard Clark – Rifle – Kinesiology
Mason Hamilton – Rifle – Agricultural Economics
Mitchell Nelson – Rifle – Biology
Emmie Sellers – Rifle – Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology
William Shaner – Rifle – Economics
Jaden Thompson – Rifle – Animal Sciences
Mary Tucker – Rifle – Kinesiology
Kyle Barker – M Swim & Dive – Kinesiology
Max Berg – M Swim & Dive – Economics
Daniel Blake – M Swim & Dive – Mechanical Engineering
Jakob Clark – M Swim & Dive – Computer Science
Cooper Drouillard – M Swim & Dive – Journalism
Samuel Duncan – M Swim & Dive – Economics; Finance
Timothy Ellett – M Swim & Dive – Finance; Economics
John Michael Gordon – M Swim & Dive – Finance
Maxwell Hawton – M Swim & Dive – Public Health
Henry Miller – M Swim & Dive – Marketing
Rodrigo Romero – M Swim & Dive – Marketing
Zane Rosely – M Swim & Dive – Finance; Management
Adam Rosipal – M Swim & Dive – Psychology; Economics
Mason Wilby – M Swim & Dive – Integrated Strategic Communication
Mingli Zhang – M Swim & Dive – Management; Economics
Kaitlyn Bacik – W Swim & Dive – Computer Engineering
Emily Baeth – W Swim & Dive – Information Communication Technology
Bailey Bonnett – W Swim & Dive – Elementary Education
Caitlin Brooks – W Swim & Dive – Communication
Victoria Buerger – W Swim & Dive – Animal Sciences
Gillian Davey – W Swim & Dive – Kinesiology
Sofia Davis – W Swim & Dive – Journalism
Megan Drumm – W Swim & Dive – Digital Media & Design
Bridget Engel – W Swim & Dive – Biology
Riley Gaines – W Swim & Dive – Health Sciences
Izzy Gati – W Swim & Dive – Kinesiology
Parker Herren – W Swim & Dive – Political Science
Kyndal Knight – W Swim & Dive – Marketing
Leah Luckett – W Swim & Dive – Psychology
Beth McNeese – W Swim & Dive – Writing, Rhetoric, & Digital Studies; English
Jodi Ogle – W Swim & Dive – Biology
Victoria Orcutt – W Swim & Dive – Psychology
Lauren Poole – W Swim & Dive – Sociology
Anna Havens Rice – W Swim & Dive – Chemistry
Kelly Rodriguez – W Swim & Dive – Marketing
Kristyn Sabol – W Swim & Dive – Marketing
Sophie Sorenson – W Swim & Dive – Marketing
Morgan Southall – W Swim & Dive – Management; Marketing
Caroline Szydlowski – W Swim & Dive – Public Health
Trinity Ward – W Swim & Dive – Mechanical Engineering
Kaitlynn Wheeler – W Swim & Dive – Communication
 
UK’s players on the SEC Honor Roll continues the trend of strong academic news:

• In November, it was announced that UK student-athletes broke the school record for Federal Graduation Rate and tied the school record in the NCAA Graduation Success Rate. UK has broken or tied the GSR school record every year since the NCAA began measuring that statistic in 2005.
• Including the 2021 winter commencement and last spring’s graduation, 115 Wildcat student-athletes earned degrees during the 2021 calendar year.
• In December, 395 Wildcats achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher for the fall semester, including 107 Cats who reached 4.0 for the semester. That continued UK Athletics’ streak of 19 consecutive semesters with a department-wide GPA of 3.0 or higher.

 
UK Athletics supports the academic success of its student-athletes through CATS – the first academic center of its kind dedicated solely to serving student-athletes. CATS is an important component of UK’s Student-Athlete Experience division, committed to preparing student-athletes to enter life after UK.