July 14, 2011

COLUMBIA, S.C. – For the fourth time in a row, South Carolina leads the way on the Southeastern Conference First-Year Academic Honor Roll (formerly known as the SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll). It marks the third time in four chances during the 2010-11 academic year that the Gamecocks had the most athletes named to the league’s honor rolls. The SEC releases the list for each overarching sports season (Fall, Winter and Spring) as well as the year-end one for first-year athletes.

In total, 630 student-athletes were named to the 2011 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll on Thursday by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. Overall, the SEC honored 2,583 student-athletes who earned Academic Honor Roll recognition in 2010-11.

Each student-athlete must 1) have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or above at the nominating institution; 2) be on scholarship or a letter winner; 3) have completed 24 semester hours of non-remedial credit at the nominating institution; and 4) have been a member of the varsity team for the sport’s entire NCAA Championship segment.

The 2011 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2010-11 academic calendar.

The women’s track and field/cross country team led the Gamecocks with 15 members on the team, while both men’s track and women’s swimming and diving placed 10. The full list of Gamecocks follows:

Baseball (4)
Greg Brodzinski
Patrick Harrington
Erik Payne
Drake Thomason

Men’s Basketball (3)
Bruce Ellington
RJ Slawson
Eric Smith

Equestrian (8)
Jordan Brown
Alison Ceresani
Morgan Hale
Emma Johnson
Katie Kopf
Allie Kraybill
Samantha Nicholson
Rachel Roter

Football (4)
Patrick Fish
Nick Jones
Ronald Patrick
Dylan Thompson

Men’s Golf (3)
Zach Balit
Caulder Moore
Blaine Woodruff

Women’s Golf (2)
Katie Rose Higgins
Samantha Swinehart

Men’s Soccer (4)
Trevor Hubbard
J.P. Rafferty
Chipper Root
Hunter Wyer

Women’s Soccer (4)
Gabrielle Gilbert
Taylor Leach
Samantha McGowan
Elizabeth Sinclair

Softball (3)
Dana Hathorn
Chelsea Hawkins
Julie Sarratt

Men’s Swimming & Diving (2)
Tim Berens
Gerard Rodriguez

Women’s Swimming & Diving (10)
Maryn Bieganski
Abby Galbreath
Alina Hall
Taylor Josserand
Jamie Osborn
Lauren Raczkowski
Lauren Rosenberg
Amanda Rutqvist
Rachael Schaffer
Kelly Tannhauser

Men’s Tennis (1)
Jake Bowling

Women’s Tennis (2)
Dominika Kanakova
Katerina Popova

Men’s Track (10)
James Adams
Kevaughn Griffith
Samuel Hill
Josh Jones
Spencer Latham
Alex Loose
Drew Ricci
Andrew Seay
Chris Sharp
Joshua Suttmeier

Women’s Track (15)
Vashti Bandy
Penny Boswell
Kayli Buckley
Maura Craney
Cristina Cribb
Kelly Fischer
Rachel Grochowski
Kathleen Jacob
Scolastica Jepngetich
Liz Locke
Petra Olsen
Sanura Eley-O’Reilly
Kaitlin Pubentz
Angie Rummans
Amina Smith

Volleyball (5)
Lindsey Craft
Cara Howley
Megan Kent
Juliette Thévenin
Paige Wheeler