BATON ROUGE – A total of 26 LSU student-athletes, including five baseball players who played on national championship teams, will graduate from LSU during ceremonies at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday.
Five baseball players who contributed to national titles in 1993, 1996 and 1997 will receive their diplomas, including Mike Neal, captain of the 1993 team who now plays for the New Orleans Zephyrs minor league baseball team.
Two-time national champion Kevin Shipp will graduate on Friday. Shipp, a member of LSU’s 1996 and 1997 College World Series champions, was the starting pitcher in the 1996 title game in Omaha.
Three other members of the 1997 champion baseball team, Danny Higgins, Doug Thompson and Wes Davis, will also graduate. Higgins hit a home run in the ’97 title game as a designated hitter, Thompson was the winning pitcher in that game and Davis was the starting left fielder.
Four Tiger football players will graduate, including tailback Rondell Mealey, who finished his career as the sixth leading rusher in school history. Joining him from the football team will be linebacker Markeith Spears, tight end Jamal Pack and former defensive back Clifton White.
Also graduating will be women’s basketball point guard Latasha Dorsey, who played in more post-season tournament games than any other male or female basketball player in LSU history, track athlete Celena Clark, the SEC runner-up in the indoor 400-meters last season, and Jodi Otten, an All-SEC infielder for the Tiger softball team.
Joining Dorsey from the women’s basketball team will be Lora Stewart while men’s basketball players Lenear Burns and Willie Anderson will be accepting their degrees. It will be the second degree earned by Burns.
Following is a complete list of LSU student-athletes who will be accepting degrees on Friday:
Arts and Sciences
– Emily Blake, track (general studies), Danny Higgins, baseball (general studies), Lora Stewart, basketball (general studies), Clifton White, football (general studies).
Basic Sciences
– Angela Accomando, soccer (zoology), Lucas Duvall, swimming (microbiology).
Business
– Lenear Burns, basketball (management and information systems), Chris Loupe, golf (finance), Henry Wieniewitz, golf (finance).
Education
– Willie Anderson, basketball (kinesiology), Celena Clark, track (kinesiology), Latasha Dorsey, basketball (kinesiology), Rondell Mealey, football (kinesiology), Mike Neal, baseball (kinesiology), Meg Norwood, volleyball (kinesiology), Jodi Otten, softball (kinesiology), Dione Perry, soccer (kinesiology), Denise Savoie, gymnastics (kinesiology), Kevin Shipp, baseball (kinesiology), Doug Thompson, baseball (kinesiology), Stephanie Viado, gymnastics (kinesiology).
Engineering
– Amanda Occhi, track (electrical engineering), Catherine Ranken, soccer (civil engineering), Markeith Spears, football (construction management).
Mass Communication
– Wes Davis, baseball (public relations), Jamal Pack, football (mass communications).