BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Thirty LSU student-athletes from men’s basketball, women’s basketball, gymnastics and swimming and diving teams earned recognition for the SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll the league office announced Wednesday.
The swimming and diving team led the way for LSU with 20 student-athletes. There were 11 honorees for the women’s program and nine for the men, including All-American Juan Celaya-Hernandez, LSU 200 butterfly record holder Harrison Jones and Summer Spradley, the owner of the third-best time in school history in the 200-breast.
Six gymnasts earned spots on the honor roll, including Sarah Finnegan, Myia Hambrick, Ruby Harrold, McKenna Kelley, Ashlyn Kirby and Erin Macadaeg.
The gymnastics team captured its sixth-straight NCAA Regional Title and is competing in its 29th NCAA Championship this week. The team was crowned SEC Champions for the second-consecutive season and is looking to reach the NCAA Super Six for the fifth time in the past six seasons.
Skylar Mays and Reed Vial are representatives from the men’s basketball team. Mays was named a CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American in 2018. The sophomore averaged 11.3 points, four rebounds, three assists and 1.6 steals per game. He became the 33rd player in LSU history to record 200 career assists and currently sits at 210. Vial is a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member. The senior appeared in nine games and made his first career start on Senior Day. He scored his first career basket, a three-point shot, during the Mississippi State contest.
The women’s basketball team’s Jaelyn Richard-Harris and Rakell Spencer round out the SEC Winter Honor Roll members for the Lady Tigers. Richard-Harris averaged 24.9 minutes per game and recorded 4.6 points per game. Spencer sat out the 2017-18 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
The complete 2017-18 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll for LSU follows:
Skylar Mays, Men’s Basketball, Biology
Reed Vial, Men’s Basketball, Finance
Jaelyn Richard-Harris, Women’s Basketball, Psychology
Rakell Spencer, Women’s Basketball, Sports Administration
Sarah Finnegan, Gymnastics, Kinesiology
Myia Hambrick, Gymnastics, Mass Communications
Ruby Harrold, Gymnastics, Kinesiology
McKenna Kelley, Gymnastics, Psychology
Ashlyn Kirby, Gymnastics, Business
Erin Macadaeg, Gymnastics, Marketing
Juan Celaya-Hernandez, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Chemical Engineering
Harrison Jones, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Kinesiology
Matt Klotz, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Kinesiology
Alarii Levreault-Lopez, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Petroleum Engineering
Karl Luht, Men’s Swimming & Diving, General Business
Mitchell Petras, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Petroleum Engineering
Matthew Phillip, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Kinesiology
Sven Saemundsson, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Chemistry
Thomas Smith, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Information Systems & Decision Science
Sophia Bisch, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Kinesiology
Clayton Black, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Kinesiology
Helen Grossman, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Chemical Engineering
Alexandria Ham, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Sports Administration
Lia Joslin, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Computer Science
Rileigh Knox, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Mathematics
Jane MacDougall, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Education
Gabrielle Pick, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Sports Administration
Nicole Rozier, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Family Studies
Summer Spradley, Women’s Swimming & Diving, International Trade & Finance
Kate Zimmer, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Nutrition and Food Science
About the SEC Academic Honor Roll
The 2017-18 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2017 Spring, Summer and Fall terms. A total of 665 student-athletes received accolades around the conference.
Any student-athlete who participates in a Southeastern Conference championship sport or a student-athlete who participates in a sport listed on his/her institution’s NCAA Sports Sponsorship Form is eligible for nomination to the Academic Honor Roll. The following criteria is followed:
(1) A student-athlete must have a grade point average of 3.00 or above for either the preceding academic year (two semesters or three quarters) or have a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 or above at the nominating institution.
(2) If a student-athlete attends summer school, his/her grade point average during the summer academic term must be included in the calculation used to determine eligibility for the Academic Honor Roll.
(3) Student-athletes eligible for the Honor Roll include those receiving an athletics scholarship, recipients of an athletics award (i.e., letter winner), and non-scholarship student-athletes who have been on a varsity team for two seasons.
(4) Prior to being nominated, 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 must have been a member of a varsity team for the sport’s entire NCAA Championship segment.