LSU Gold

Forty-Five Named to SEC First Year Honor Roll

by Clyde Verdin
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Forty-Five Named to SEC First Year Honor Roll

BATON ROUGE, La. – On Wednesday, 45 LSU student-athletes were named to the Southeastern Conference First Year Honor Roll the league announced, one day after 64 of their fellow teammates were named to the SEC’s Spring Honor Roll.

In all, the first-year student-athletes hailed from 14 of LSU’s various sports, with 12 having multiple honorees led by women’s track & field with six selections. The women’s soccer team and volleyball team had five honorees, while baseball, sand volleyball and women’s swimming & diving each finished right behind with four.

The Lady Tigers track & field team completed another stellar season in 2015 by finishing tied for ninth at the indoor national championships in February, while placing 11th at the outdoor meet just earlier this month. One of the young standouts on a team filled with underclassmen was sprinter Mikiah Brisco, who earned two All-America nods and an All-SEC honor running in the 60-meter and 4×100-meter relay events.

Another team that had a youth movement this season was the LSU women’s soccer team, led by standout Jorian Baucom who was the SEC and Louisiana Player of the Year, named to the SEC All-Freshman team and has participated in camps for the U.S. Women’s National Team U-19 and U-20 divisions. She’s joined by fellow all-freshman team member Alexis Urch and two players with international experience in Lily Alfeld for New Zealand and Ella Williams for England.

After a 20-win season, finishing third in the SEC and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, LSU volleyball was well represented on the honor roll which included SEC All-Freshman pick Gina Tillis, who played in 23 matches for the Tigers last season and set the true freshman record for kills in a match with 26. Elly Ogle, Kelly Quinn and Cheyenne Wood each played in double-digit matches for the team last year, while Toni Rodriguez will be added into the fold in 2015 after redshirting.

In one of the more dominating performances in any era, hurler Alex Lange headlines the baseball selections after going 12-0 with a 1.97 earned run average in 114 innings on the diamond. Lange racked up a host of awards including multiple All-America honors and being named the National Freshman Pitcher of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year. He’s joined by fellow pitchers Jesse Stallings and Jake Latz and infielder Greg Deichmann.

Only in its second year of existence, the sand volleyball program continues to ascend to new heights as the squad won 14 times last year against some of the more established programs in the country. One player who aided in that cause was Mandi Orellana, who not only is participating for her native country Guatemala this summer, but went 19-9 when paired with partner Katie Lindelow as the duo were the first player in the program’s history to advance to the AVCA National Championships.

Diver Madison Sthamann became the 12th Lady Tiger in the program’s history to be named an All-American on the platform to lead the women’s swimming & diving contingent, joined by Jane MacDougall, Kari Wray and Kate Zimmer.

A first team All-American on vault as a freshman, Myia Hambrick finished eighth at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships, where along with Erin Macadaeg and Kylie Moran, helped the Tigers finish 25-6 in a season filled with tremendous team and individual achievements.

Beginning the season with a pair of second place finishes in both springboard events, Andrew Suchla capped his first year finishing sixth at the SEC meet and making it all the way to the finals of the zone diving meet among a trio of newcomers in the water along with Austin Drummond and Damen Pheiffer.

Lady Tiger tennis was represented by Amanda Atanasson, Madara Straume and Joana Vale Costa, as Vale Costa is continuing competition this summer, advancing in the main singles draw of the Southern Lifestyle Development Tennis Classic which was held in Baton Rouge recently.

Jenna Deemer made 31 appearances in her inaugural campaign on the women’s basketball team, averaging 5.7 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.6 steals, earning Miami Holiday All-Tournament Team honors, while Alliyah Fareo, an Australia native, played in 11 games off the bench for the Lady Tigers.

Sydney Bourg started 21 of the final 23 games for the softball team that qualified for the 2015 Women’s College World Series, along with Emily Griggs who started 62 of the team’s games last year and finishing fourth on the team in batting average, and second in stolen bases en route to being named to the SEC All-Freshman Team and LSWA All-Louisiana honorable mention.

William Adkisson and Simon Freund were a part of a men’s tennis squad that finished 18-9 on the year and achieving a national ranking of 29 by the end of the season, advancing to the second round of the tennis championships.

Claudia De Antonio competed in three events for the LSU women’s golf team, firing a low round of 75 during the season, while Jack Wilkes of the men’s track & field team was one of the team’s leading middle distance runners in both the indoor and outdoor season, earning a top 15 placing at the outdoor conference championships and a top 25 finish at the indoor league meet.

The Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes is a 54,000 square foot facility comprised of academic affairs, student affairs and an information technology teams, serving more than 530 student-athletes. The purpose is to provide an all-inclusive, student-centered support structure for all student-athletes from matriculation, through graduation and life beyond.

2015 SEC First Year Honor Roll

Name, Sport, Major
Greg Deichmann, Baseball, Sports Administration
Alex Lange, Baseball, Finance
Jake Latz, Baseball, Sports Administration
Jesse Stallings, Baseball, Natural Resource Ecology & Management
Jenna Deemer, Women’s Basketball, Kinesiology
Alliyah Fareo, Women’s Basketball, Mass Communications
Claudia De Antonio, Women’s Golf, International Trade & Finance
Myia Hambrick, Gymnastics, Mass Communications
Erin Macadaeg, Gymnastics, Marketing
Kylie Moran, Gymnastics, Kinesiology
Lilly Kessler, Sand Volleyball, Coastal Environmental Science
Carly Morris, Sand Volleyball, Biology
Mandi Orellana, Sand Volleyball, Kinesiology
Taylor Wilson, Sand Volleyball, Kinesiology
Lily Alfeld, Soccer, Sports Administration
Jorian Baucom, Soccer, Mass Communications
Madeline Ramsey, Soccer, Mass Communications
Alexis Urch, Soccer, Sports Administration
Ella Williams, Soccer, Physics
Sydney Bourg, Softball, Kinesiology
Emily Griggs, Softball, Mechanical Engineering
Austin Drummond, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Economics
Damen Pheiffer, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Coastal Environmental Science
Andrew Suchla, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Kinesiology
Jane MacDougall, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Elementary Education
Madison Sthamann, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Kinesiology
Kari Wray, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Mechanical Engineering
Kate Zimmer, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Nutrition & Food Sciences
William Adkisson, Men’s Tennis, Finance
Simon Freund, Men’s Tennis, General Business
Amanda Atanasson, Women’s Tennis, Undecided
Madara Straume, Women’s Tennis, Sociology
Joana Vale Costa, Women’s Tennis, Sports Administration
Jack Wilkes, Men’s Track & Field, Political Science
Carley Boyce, Women’s Track & Field, Biology
Mikiah Brisco, Women’s Track & Field, Mass Communications
Bria Druilhet, Women’s Track & Field, Physics
Rebecca Little, Women’s Track & Field, International Trade & Finance
Marvalyn Vernon, Women’s Track & Field, Biology
Sidnie Wilder, Women’s Track & Field, Physics
Elly Ogle, Volleyball, Kinesiology
Kelly Quinn, Volleyball, Biology
Toni Rodriguez, Volleyball, Kinesiology
Gina Tillis, Volleyball, Kinesiology
Cheyenne Wood, Volleyball, Sports Administration