WVU Student-Athletes Honored for Academic Achievements

While playing the game they love and dedicate much of their time to, student-athletes at West Virginia University are also dedicated to their academics as evident by the recent release of the 2019 Fall Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

Per the Big 12 Conference, 308 Mountaineer student-athletes made the list and are being recognized this semester with a 3.0 grade point average or higher. Of the 308 student-athletes, 73 registered a GPA of 4.0 in the fall semester across multiple sports at the university.

More than 300 of our student-athletes earned a spot on the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll, with 73 getting a perfect 4.0 GPA! 🙌 Congrats, Mountaineers! 👏👏👏

➡️ https://t.co/grhFB7WWWH pic.twitter.com/VWPqNIMKpI

— WVU Mountaineers (@WestVirginiaU) February 4, 2020

According to the Big 12 Conference release, “The 73 Mountaineers named to the list with a perfect 4.0 GPA in the semester include: Jimmy Starnes, Tim Wynia, Braden Zarbnisky (baseball); Chase Harler (men’s basketball); Jake Abbott, Jarret Doege, Elijah Drummond, Casey Legg, Graeson Malashevich, Zach Sandwisch (football); Kurtis Grant, Philipp Matlari (golf); Abby Kaufman, McKenna Linnen, Sydney Marler, Julia Merwin, Taylor Sell, Kianna Yancey (gymnastics); David Koenders, Verena Zaisberger (rifle); Megan Casner, Grace Crankovic, Ashley Dibling, Nicole Dibling, Lisa Eller, Isabelle Hidalgo, Kileigh Lade, Kaira Lay, Madisyn Lee, Olivia Martinelli, Lydia Nicolai, Madelyn Oberschmidt, Megan Present, Lucie Steinmetz, Emma Toy (rowing); Pascal Derwaritsch, Sam Morgan, Spenser Myers (men’s soccer); Jonathan Bennett, Zach Boley, Ryan Kelly, PJ Lenz, Josh Madzy, Matthew Marsh, Conrad Molinaro, Jack Portmann, Michael Sandner, Austin Smith, David Snider (men’s swimming & diving); Camille Burt, Miranda Marcucci, Abigail Riggs, Brooke Zedar (women’s swimming & diving); Giovanna Caputo, Nicole Roc (tennis); Marianne Abdalah, Antigone Archer, Tessa Constantine, Ellie Gardner, Olivia Hill, Peyton Kukura, Malina Mitchell, Myesha Nott, Avigail Radabaugh, Bree Warren (track & field/cross country); Gabrielle Cuckovich, Erin Slinde, Lacey Zerwas (volleyball); Jeffrey Boyd, Caleb Graber, Kyle Myers, Tucker Nadeau and David Smith (wrestling).”

The student-athletes from the WVU  football team under first year coach Neal Brown led the way with 44 honorees total and six being honored for a 4.0 GPA. The rowing team came just behind with 42 honorees and 15 being honored with a 4.0 GPA. Other totals include: track & field/cross country (27), baseball (24), women’s swimming & diving (24), men’s swimming & diving (23), men’s soccer (23), women’s soccer (20), wrestling (16), gymnastics (15), volleyball (12), men’s basketball (10), rifle (9), women’s basketball (8), golf (7) and tennis (4).

Of these athletes, 24 graduated in December with degrees.

Congrats to our 2⃣4⃣ representatives on the Fall Big 12 Honor Roll! Success on the field and in the classroom.#HailWV https://t.co/MwfQkz0lnd

— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) February 4, 2020

According to the Big 12, performance in the classroom is just as important as accolades on the field when looking at the student-athlete and, therefore, conference recognizes student-athletes in multiple areas for academic achievement including the commissioner’s honor roll. This acknowledgement is recorded and released each semester for the previous semester.

WVU had an increase in student-athletes recognized this fall with 217 Mountaineers named to the 2018 Fall Honor Roll and 53 recognized for a 4.0 GPA.

More than 5,000 student-athletes each semester have been named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll in the Conference’s history.