May 7, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. - UCF will graduate a school-record 92 student-athletes during the 2008-09 academic year, 58 of which will receive their degrees on either Friday or Saturday as the University holds four separate Commencement ceremonies at UCF Arena.
The previous school benchmark of 83 had been set during the 2007-08 academic year. A full list of the 92 graduating student-athletes for 2008-09 is at the end of this release.
This news caps a year of great academic successes for UCF Athletics thanks largely in part to the tireless work of the Academic Services for Student-Athletes (ASSA) staff. For the third consecutive year UCF placed the most student-athletes on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll of any school in the league as a C-USA record 224 Knights recorded a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. The 224 represents 60-percent of all UCF student athletes and an increase of 13.5-percent from last year.
The Knights had 34 student-athletes earn C-USA Academic Medals for having a cumulative GPA of at least 3.75, an increase of seven from 2007-08.
Yesterday, the NCAA announced its annual APR report and all 16 UCF teams scored a multi-year average of 925 or better. The school's multi-year average of 962 ranks third amongst the 12 Division I schools in the state of Florida. Five of UCF's 16 teams (31-percent) scored a perfect 1000 for the past academic year.
Many UCF student-athletes have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District teams by CoSIDA with volleyball's Jenny Heppert advancing on to the Academic All-America team. Knight student-athletes have also been well-represented throughout the year on their sport's respective C-USA All-Academic teams.
Not all of the credit for this tremendous success is due to those who sit in the classrooms and work behind the scenes for UCF Athletics in areas like ASSA. None of this could have ever been possible without the generosity of UCF's many supporters through their donations to the Golden Knights Club. Every year the GKC collects valuable funds which help advance the academic success of UCF's student-athletes. For more information on the GKC and how you can help continue this remarkable academic success, please call (407) 823-2086, email goldenknightsclub@athletics.ucf.edu, or check out the GKC section at UCFAthletics.com.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
FALL 2008 (16 Graduates)
Joe Burnett - Football
Blake Carter - Football
Paul Cinder - Baseball
Anthony Davis - Football
Mitch Herold - Baseball
Karen Kozub - Track & Field
Jennifer Manis - Women's Soccer
Caitlin Pauls - Rowing
Stephanie Pauls - Rowing
Cassie Ramaekers - Volleyball
Tara Rogers - Rowing
Cat Snapp - Softball
Giwon Suh - Men's Golf
Virginia Traynor - Track & Field
Ashley VanRyn - Softball
Anna Yakimchenkova - Women's Tennis
SPRING 2009 (58 Graduates)
Stephanie Adams - Rowing
Kellen Alexander - Cheer
Chris Andaur - Men's Soccer
Colin Arnold - Baseball
Kenza Belbacha - Women's Tennis
Erin Bernier - Rowing
Victoria Chin - Track & Field
Nick Choto - Baseball
Richard Clark - Football
Danny Colon - Men's Tennis
Stephanie Connelly - Women's Golf
Jeanette Cubas - Cheer
Alyson Davis - Rowing
Lindsey Dean - Softball
Sarah deLeon - Women's Soccer
Tanis Franchuk - Rowing
Jessie Gardner - Women's Soccer
Jaager Good - Baseball
Caleb Graham - Baseball
Michael Greco - Football
Emma Gresson - Rowing
Brian Griggs - Baseball
John Hafferty - Football
TJ Harnden - Football
Meghan Hays - Cheer
Jenny Heppert - Volleyball
Cory Hogue - Football
Danielle Hopkins - Rowing
Jessica Jackson - Women's Soccer
Breanne Javier - Softball
David Johnson - Men's Golf
Denielle Leen - Rowing
Brittan McDermott - Track & Field
Kyle Mills - Baseball
Megan Murphy - Softball
Alison Palmer - Track & Field
Jordan Richards - Football
Ryan Richardson - Baseball
Brandon Romans - Baseball
Breon Rogers - Football
Rocky Ross - Football
Ryan Roushandel - Men's Soccer
Laura Rudy - Rowing
JR Sandlin - Football
Stephanie Serna - Volleyball
Josh Siebenaler - Baseball
Sinan Sudas - Men's Tennis (Posthumous)
Kyle Sweat - Baseball
Dione Thomas - Track & Field
Alex Thompson - Football
Mayule Tomimbang - Women's Golf
Kiko Vasquez - Baseball
Jessica Venneman - Rowing
Justin Weiss - Baseball
Taylor Wiatt - Rowing
Hanna Wilde - Women's Soccer
Amy Winn - Cheer
Kenrick Zondervan - Men's Basketball
SUMMER 2009 (18 Graduates)
Dee Brown - Baseball
Pat Brown - Football
Ian Bustillo - Football
Kyle Davis - Men's Golf
Katie Detlefsen - Women's Golf
Nico Donaldson - Men's Golf
Danielle dos Santos - Women's Soccer
Greg Forest - Men's Golf
Lexi Gresham - Softball
Chadd Hartman - Baseball
Shenevia Patterson - Track & Field
Magon Paul - Softball
Michell Ranc - Track & Field
Brock Sakey - Men's Tennis
Lauren Schueler - Rowing
Drew Speraw - Men's Basketball
Antonio Wallace - Football
Janine Williams - Volleyball
In addition to the afore mentioned 92 student-athletes, the UCF Athletics Communications office would also like to recognize two exceptional graduating student assistants, Nathan Blythe (Stuart, Fla.) and Eric DeSalvo (Jacksonville, Fla.) who have both worked passionately to help promote the many accomplishments of UCF student-athletes, relaying the information to fans and media members alike.