72 Wildcats Earn a Place on the SEC Winter Sports Academic Honor Roll
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 27, 2021) — A total of 72 University of Kentucky student-athletes earned a place on the 2021 Winter Sports Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll, announced last week by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. UK tied for the third-highest number of honorees in the league.
The 2021 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2020 Spring, Summer and Fall terms. UK’s gymnastics team had 17 representatives, most in the league in that sport. UK’s 23 entries in women’s swimming and diving is third-highest in that sport. In addition, there are four representatives from men’s basketball, seven from women’s basketball, nine from rifle and 12 from men’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 also had a pair of championship teams among the winter sports. The rifle squad won its third NCAA championship and also the Great American Rifle Conference regular-season title for the eighth time. Women’s swimming and diving won its first SEC championship in school history.
In addition to tying for the third-highest total on the SEC Winter Sports Honor Roll, UK had the second-best total for the 2020 Fall Sports Honor Roll, as 100 Wildcats achieved that distinction.
2021 SEC WINTER SPORTS HONOR ROLL
Kentucky – Sport – Major
Keion Brooks Jr. - Men's Basketball - Communication
Brennan Canada - Men's Basketball - Communication
Alexander Payne - Men's Basketball - Communication
Riley Welch - Men's Basketball - Liberal Studies
Dre’una Edwards - Women's Basketball - Social Work
Blair Green - Women's Basketball - Kinesiology
Emma King - Women's Basketball - Human Health Sciences
KeKe McKinney - Women's Basketball - Social Work
Chasity Patterson - Women's Basketball - Media Arts and Studies
Kameron Roach - Women's Basketball - Kinesiology and Health Promotion
Tatyana Wyatt - Women's Basketball - Psychology
Raina Albores - Gymnastics - Kinesiology
Josie Angeny - Gymnastics - Communication
Madison Averett - Gymnastics - Kinesiology
Makenna Clarke - Gymnastics - Dietetics
Kaitlin DeGuzman – Gymnastics - Communication
Anna Haigis - Gymnastics - Kinesiology
Mackenzie Harman - Gymnastics - Human Health Sciences
Kassidy Howell - Gymnastics - Kinesiology
Ashlyn LaClair - Gymnastics - Social Work
Shealyn Luksik - Gymnastics - Human Health Sciences
Megan Monfredi - Gymnastics - Sport and Exercise Psychology
Cally Nixon - Gymnastics - Social Work
Arianna Patterson - Gymnastics - Digital Media and Design
Elyssa Roberts - Gymnastics - Biosystems Engineering
Allison Snyder - Gymnastics - Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology
Ella Warren - Gymnastics - Communication
Raena Worley – Gymnastics - Kinesiology
Richard Clark - Rifle - Kinesiology
Mason Hamilton - Rifle - Agricultural Economics
Mason Joachim - Rifle - Psychology
Mitchell Nelson - Rifle - Biology
Emmie Sellers - Rifle - Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology
William Shaner - Rifle - Economics
Hailee Sigmon - Rifle - Career and Technical Education
Jaden Thompson - Rifle - Animal Sciences
Mary Tucker - Rifle - Kinesiology
Kyle Barker - Men's Swim & Dive - Kinesiology
Louis Barker - Men's Swim & Dive - Management
Daniel Blake - Men's Swim & Dive - Mechanical Engineering
Jakob Clark - Men's Swim & Dive - Computer Science
Timothy Ellett - Men's Swim & Dive - Finance
John Michael Gordon - Men's Swim & Dive - Finance
Maxwell Hawton - Men's Swim & Dive - Public Health
Chase Lane - Men's Swim & Dive - Kinesiology
Daniel Orcutt - Men's Swim & Dive - Management
Hank Siefert - Men's Swim & Dive - Finance
Mason Wilby - Men's Swim & Dive - Integrated Strategic Communication
Mingli Zhang - Men's Swim & Dive - Management Technology
Emily Baeth - Women's Swim & Dive - Information Communication
Bailey Bonnett - Women's Swim & Dive - Elementary Education
Caitlin Brooks - Women's Swim & Dive - Communication
Gillian Davey - Women's Swim & Dive - Kinesiology
Lauren Denham - Women's Swim & Dive - Community and Leadership Development
Riley Gaines - Women's Swim & Dive - Human Health Sciences
Jaida Garrett - Women's Swim & Dive - Psychology
Isabella Gati - Women's Swim & Dive - Kinesiology
Hayley Griesser - Women's Swim & Dive - Communication Sciences and Disorders
Parker Herren - Women's Swim & Dive - Political Science
Jaclyn Hill - Women's Swim & Dive - Kinesiology
Cara Hudson - Women's Swim & Dive - Clinical Leadership and Management
Olivia Huffman - Women's Swim & Dive - Psychology
Kyndal Knight - Women's Swim & Dive - Marketing
Beth McNeese - Women's Swim & Dive - Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies
Payton Neff - Women's Swim & Dive - Psychology
Lauren Poole - Women's Swim & Dive - Sociology
Kelly Rodriguez - Women's Swim & Dive - Marketing
Sophia Sorenson - Women's Swim & Dive - Marketing
Morgan Southall - Women's Swim & Dive - Management
Caroline Szydlowski - Women's Swim & Dive - Public Health
Trinity Ward - Women's Swim & Dive - Mechanical Engineering
Kaitlynn Wheeler - Women's 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 both school records for NCAA Graduation Success Rate and Federal Graduation Rate. UK has broken or tied the GSR school record every year since the NCAA began measuring that statistic in 2005.
- Including the 2020 winter commencement and last spring’s graduation, 98 Wildcat student-athletes earned degrees during the 2020 calendar year.
- In December, 380 Wildcats achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher for the fall semester, including 109 Cats who reached 4.0 for the semester. That continued UK Athletics’ streak of 17 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, launched as a renewal of the department’s commitment to prepare student-athletes to enter life after UK.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.