BATON ROUGE – The LSU Soccer team smashed its previous program record of 14 SEC Academic Honor Roll selections on Wednesday when the Southeastern Conference office announced that 17 Tigers have been honored with honor roll selections this year for their academic performance during the 2015 spring, summer and fall semesters.
The Tigers had matched their program record of 14 SEC Academic Honor Roll selections in three of the past four seasons when they featured 14 honorees in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Headlining the team’s record of 17 honor roll selections this year is senior team captain Natalia Gomez-Junco, who was also named a Second-Team Academic All-South Region performer by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America for the 2015 season. Gomez-Junco finishes her collegiate career as a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection.
Other repeat selections to the SEC Academic Honor Roll include fellow senior team captain Alex Arlitt with her fourth career appearance; seniors Gracie Campbell, Heather Magee, Mariel McLaughlin and Fernanda Pina with their third career selections; and senior Catalina Rubiano, juniors Summer Clarke and Megan Lee and sophomore Madeline Ramsey with their second career selections.
Senior Emma Meckfessel; sophomores Lily Alfeld, Jorian Baucom, Christyna Pitre, Delaney Sheehan and Ella Williams; and redshirt freshman Chelsea Stiebing were honored as honor roll selections for the first time.
LSU’s 17 selections to the SEC’s Fall Academic Honor Roll continued the team’s momentum in the classroom in the wake of the 2015 season as LSU Soccer was also honored by the NSCAA for the fifth-straight season as a recipient of the NSCAA Team Academic Award for maintaining a team grade-point average of 3.33 during the 2014-15 academic year.
Gomez-Junco (civil engineering), McLaughlin (biology) and Rubiano (sociology) also joined fellow senior Lexi Gibbs (interdisciplinary studies) as LSU graduates during December’s commencement exercises.
Any student-athlete participating in a Southeastern Conference championship sport or student-athlete who participates in a sport listed on his/her institution’s NCAA Sports Sponsorship Form is eligible for nomination to the SEC Academic Honor Roll, provided the following criteria is followed:
(1) A student-athlete must have a grade-point average of 3.00 or above for either the preceding academics year (two semesters or three quarters) or have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or above at the institution.
(2) If a student-athlete attends summer school, his/her GPA during the summer academic term is included in the calculation used to determine eligibility for the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
(3) Student-athletes eligible for the SEC Academic Honor Roll include those athletes receiving an athletic scholarship, recipients of an athletic award (i.e. letter winner) and non-scholarship student-athletes who have been on a varsity team for two seasons.
(4) Prior to his/her nomination to the SEC Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must have successfully completed 24 semester or 36 quarter hours of non-remedial academic credit toward a baccalaureate degree at the nominating institution.
(5) The student-athlete has been a member of a varsity team for the squad’s entire NCAA Championships segment.
LSU Soccer’s SEC Academic Honor Roll Selections
Position, Name, Class, Major
GK, Lily Alfeld, Sophomore, Business Administration
D, Alex Arlitt, Senior, Accounting
F, Jorian Baucom, Sophomore, Mass Communications
D, Gracie Campbell, Sophomore, Kinesiology
F, Summer Clarke, Sophomore, Kinesiology
M, Natalia Gomez-Junco, Junior, Civil Engineering
D, Megan Lee, Sophomore, Kinesiology
M, Heather Magee, Junior, Marketing
M, Mariel McLaughlin, Sophomore, Biology
F/D, Emma Meckfessel, Senior, Kinesiology
F/M, Fernanda Pina, Junior, Studio Art
M, Christyna Pitre, Sophomore, Business Administration
M, Madeline Ramsey, Freshman, Mass Communication
GK, Catalina Rubiano, Junior, Sociology
F, Delaney Sheehan, Sophomore, Chemical Engineering
M, Chelsea Stiebing, Redshirt Freshman, Mass Communications
D, Ella Williams, Sophomore, Psychology