LEXINGTON, Ky. – A total of 55 current and former University of Kentucky student-athletes, including Pineville's James Brown, are slated to receive their bachelor’s degrees on Sunday, May 8 at UK’s commencement ceremonies, which will be held in Rupp Arena.
Along with the 15 student-athletes who graduated in December, UK Athletics will have 70 total grads in the 2015-16 school year.
Brown (pictured) is a member of UK men's track and field squad where he participated for four years. Before coming to Kentucky, Brown competed at Bell County High School where he was chosen to the Kentucky Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Super Team. In addition, he was named Male Academic Athlete of the Year by the Kentucky High School Athletic Directors Association and the Kentucky High School Coaches Association.
The 2016 commencement ceremonies will feature two separate ceremonies at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. The graduate and professional ceremony is at 7 p.m. Check uky.edu for complete commencement information.
Sunday’s commencement ceremonies will cap yet another banner academic year for UK’s athletic department. Last month, the NCAA released its Academic Progress Rate report, showing that all 22 of UK’s teams surpassed the NCAA cut score. Twenty of the 22 squads exceeded the national average, and a school-record four teams received public recognition for finishing in the top 10 percent of their sport in the APR. The APR measures academic eligibility, retention and graduation.
Also, UK’s student-athletes posted a 3.149 grade-point average during the fall 2015 semester, the seventh straight semester Wildcat student-athletes have combined to post a 3.0 GPA or better. Grades for the 2016 spring semester are not available at this time.
Here is the list of the graduating student-athletes and their sports:
Baseball: Zach Arnold, Dustin Beggs, Dylan Dwyer, Dorian Hairston, Zachary Strecker, Storm Wilson
Women’s basketball: Ivana Jakubcova, Janee Thompson
Football: Daron Blaylock, Zack Blaylock, Randall Cobb, Ryan Flannigan, Landon Foster, Khalid Henderson, Cory Johnson, Dominic Lewis, Zach Myers, Demarco Robinson, Max Strong, Fred Tiller, Cody Quinn, Zane Williams
Men’s golf: Harrison Greenberry, David Snyder
Women’s golf: Sarah Harris
Gymnastics: Shannon Mitchell, Tiara Phipps, Montana Whittle
Rifle: Jonathon Pinkel, Luke South
Softball: Sylver Samuel, Ansley Smith
Men’s soccer: Dimitri DeChurch-Silva, Kristoffer Tollefsen
Women’s soccer: Kennedy Collier, Jacqueline Dallaire, Olivia Jester, Cara Ledman, Cailey Warfel
Men’s swimming and diving: George Greenhalgh, Neal Widdowson
Women’s swimming and diving: Frida Jakobsson, Abby Myers, Samantha Shaheen
Men’s tennis: Kevin Lai
Women’s tennis: Kate Lanier, Kirsten Lewis
Men’s track and field: James Brown, Ryan Ratliff, Ryan Polman
Women’s track and field: Ariah Graham, Daje Pugh, Sha’Keela Saunders
Volleyball: Sara Schwarzwalder, Shelby Workman