Feb. 21, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Twenty-two members of the South Carolina equestrian team were honored for their academic success from the Fall 2007 semester, led by five student-athletes that were named to the President’s List.

Senior Michelle Grah (Marketing), Junior Stacy Cell (Marine Science), sophomore Emily Bookwalter (Business) and freshmen Alex Foster (Political Science) and Luci Laffitte (Public Relations) all earned the President’s List distinction, awarded to students with a grade point average of 4.00 earned on a minimum of 12 credit hours carried.

“We are so proud of our team both in the competition arena and in the classroom,” head coach Boo Duncan said. “They have proven that they can excel in both areas year after year. I am especially proud of Stacy Cell and Emily Bookwalter for maintaining a 4.0 GPA their entire time here at USC so far. To do that and juggle the demands of the equestrian team is a tremendous feat. All of our team members that are on the President’s or Dean’s list need to be commended for bringing their best efforts.”

Ten members were named to the Dean’s List, awarded to students with a grade point average of 3.50 or higher (3.25 or higher for freshman) earned on a minimum of 12 credit hours carried. Honorees include seniors Katy Biffle, Lisa Bourbonniere, Allison Bradley, Ashley Rohde and Ciara Stuart along with sophomores Alex Haskell and Megan Massaro. Freshmen Chloe Gray, Abbey Rohde and Kyla Thurlow also picked up the distinction in their first semesters at Carolina.

Seven student-athletes were named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, awarded to student-athletes with grade point averages above 3.00 on a minimum of 12 credit hours carried. Seniors Lindsay Williams and Kristen Terebesi, juniors Rebekah Roof and Sarah Stephens and sophomores Amy Biffle, Eleanor Kunsman and Sarah Phillips all earned the honor.

Academic success has been a staple of the South Carolina equestrian program under Duncan. In the four years since equestrian has been included in the SEC Spring Sports Honor Roll listings, USC has placed 59 student-athletes on the list, including 19 in both 2006 and 2007. As one of three teams in the conference that sponsors equestrian, the Gamecocks have the highest percentage of its members named to the SEC Honor Roll over the past three seasons (51 out of 87; .586 percent).