66 Wildcats on SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A total of 66 University of Kentucky student-athletes earned a place on the 2022-23 Winter Sports Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll, announced Wednesday by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

Overall, UK had the fifth-highest number of honorees in the league, while gymnastics ranked first, and women’s swimming and diving ranked second in their respective sports.

The 2022-23 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2022 spring, summer and fall terms. UK had three representatives from men’s basketball, five from women’s basketball, 16 from gymnastics, seven from rifle, eight from men’s swimming and diving and 27 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 basketball earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament, while gymnastics tied its program-record finish at both the SEC Championships and NCAA Championships, finishing the season ranked No. 6 nationally. Rifle claimed another Great America Rifle Conference regular-season championship, finishing third at NCAAs. Men’s and women’s swimming and diving combined for 10 All-America honors, six SEC medals, six school records and 21 NCAA qualifiers this season.

2022-23 SEC WINTER SPORTS ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL
Kentucky – Sport – Major
Brennan Canada – Men’s Basketball – Sport, Fitness, & Recreation Management
CJ Fredrick – Men’s Basketball – Community and Leadership Development
Oscar Tshiebwe – Men’s Basketball – Communication
Robyn Benton – Women’s Basketball – Business Administration
Blair Green – Women’s Basketball – High Performance Coaching
Emma King – Women’s Basketball – Human Health Sciences
Nyah Leveretter – Women’s Basketball – Journalism
Jada Walker – Women’s Basketball – Communication
Raina Albores – Gymnastics – Exercise Science
Bailey Bunn – Gymnastics – Exercise Science
Makenna Clarke – Gymnastics – Health Promotion
Carissa Clay – Gymnastics – Exercise Science
Hailey Davis – Gymnastics – Management; Marketing
Kaitlin Deguzman – Gymnastics – Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Kassidy Howell – Gymnastics – Exercise Science
Ashlyn Laclair – Gymnastics – Social Work
Shealyn Luksik – Gymnastics – Human Health Sciences
Isabella Magnelli – Gymnastics – Merchandising, Apparel, and Textiles
Arianna Patterson – Gymnastics – Digital Media & Design
Jillian Procasky – Gymnastics – Marketing
Annie Reigert – Gymnastics – Marketing
Lila Smith – Gymnastics – Kinesiology
Makenzie Wilson – Gymnastics – Communication
Raena Worley – Gymnastics – Exercise Science; Communication
Allison Buesseler – Rifle – Elementary Education
Richard Clark – Rifle – Business Administration
Mason Hamilton – Rifle – Agricultural Economics
Victoria Kopelen – Rifle – Public Health
Mitchell Nelson – Rifle – Neuroscience
Will Shaner – Rifle – High Performance Coaching
Jaden Thompson – Rifle – Animal Sciences
Nick Caruso – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Kinesiology
Sam Duncan – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Finance
Tim Ellett – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Finance
John Michael Gordon – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Finance
Jack Hamilton – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Marketing
Zane Rosely – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Finance; Management
Adam Rosipal – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Psychology; Economics
Mason Wilby – Men’s Swimming & Diving – Sport, Fitness, & Recreation Management
Kaitlyn Bacik – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Computer Science
Emily Baeth – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Business Administration
Caroline Benda – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Agricultural & Medical Biotechnology
Caitlin Brooks – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Instructional Systems Design
Victoria Buerger – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Animal Sciences
Kaelan Daly – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Biology
Gillian Davey – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Kinesiology
Sofie Davis – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Journalism
Abby Devereaux – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Journalism
Megan Drumm – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Digital Media & Design
Bridget Engel – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Biology
Annie Galvin – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Marketing; Management
Izzy Gati – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Sport, Fitness, & Recreation Management
Megan Hartlieb – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Marketing; Communication
Kyndal Knight – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Marketing
Leah Luckett – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Psychology; Management
Claire McDaniels – Women’s Swimming & Diving – International Studies
Beth McNeese – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Writing, Rhetoric, & Digital Studies; English
Olivia Mendenhall – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Finance
Jodi Ogle – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Biology
Victoria Orcutt – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Sport and Exercise Psychology
Lauren Poole – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Sport and Exercise Psychology
Anna Rice – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Chemistry
Kristyn Sabol – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Marketing
Morgan Southall – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Management; Marketing
Maddie Welborn – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Human Health Sciences
Kaitlynn Wheeler – Women’s Swimming & Diving – Kinesiology and Health Promotion

UK’s players on the SEC Honor Roll continues the trend of strong academic news:

• Earlier this year, UK Athletics announced that the 2022 fall semester was the 21st straight for the department with a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average. Wildcat scholarship student-athletes combined to achieve a GPA of 3.243 in the fall of 2022.
• In November, UK student-athletes tied the school record in the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate with a mark of 92 percent. UK has broken or tied the GSR school record every year since the NCAA began measuring that statistic in 2005. UK’s 92 percent is three points above the Division I national average of 89 percent.
• Including the 2022 spring and fall commencements, 156 Wildcat student-athletes earned degrees or certifications during the calendar year – 14 of whom were master’s degree graduates.

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.