BATON ROUGE, La. – Three track and field student-athletes earned college degrees Friday as graduation ceremonies are held on the LSU campus.
The Summer 2022 track and field graduates are women’s distance runner Katy-Ann McDonald (Mass Communication); women’s high jumper Nyagoa Bayak (Political Science); and men’s thrower Jon Nerdal (Mathematics).
McDonald, who hails from London, England, has earned All-America and All-SEC recognition during her four seasons at LSU. She posted a time of 2:03.57 in the 800 meters at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., securing All-America honors in her final race as a Tiger.
McDonald in 2022 established the LSU school record in the 1500 meters, registering a time of 4:12.3 at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Oxford, Miss.
Bayak, a product of Westbrook, Maine, cleared a bar of 6’ (1.83m) in the high jump at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships to claim All-America recognition for the fourth time in her LSU career.
Bayak, member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, on two occasions in 2022 leaped a personal-best 6’ 1.25” (1.86m) in the high jump, finishing fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships and third at the SEC Outdoor Championships.
Nerdal, a native of Bergen, Norway, transferred to LSU after four seasons at Minnesota, and he earned 2021 All-America recognition in the hammer throw, scoring points in the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a toss of 232’ 6” (70.88m) and helping to fuel LSU’s drive to the national championship.
Nerdal was named to the 2022 SEC Academic Honor Roll, and he received the Bengal Belles Academic Achievement Award for maintaining a graduate GPA above 3.0.