Dec. 21, 2004

Twenty-eight current or former Baylor student-athletes received their undergraduate degrees during the University's fall commencement ceremonies Dec. 18 at the Ferrell Center. A total of 578 student-athletes have graduated from Baylor since the school joined the Big 12 Conference in 1996-97, which includes a school-record tying 28 fall semester graduates each of the past three years.

Fourteen of Baylor's 17 intercollegiate athletic programs had at least one mid-year graduate with the football program accounting for 10 new graduates, with the men's golf, women's track and women's soccer teams each producing three graduates. This year's fall graduates who wore the Green & Gold during their collegiate career included:

Football (10): Brad Aho, Josh Arnold, Baylor Barbee, Luke Groth, James Irwin, Marques Roberts, John Self, Stephen Sepulveda, Joe Kirby Smith, Phillip Tran.

Women's Track & Field (3): Katherine Duncan, Stephanie Hagglund, Jordan Willmann.

Men's Golf (3): Jon Antunes, Will Doughtie, Cameron Heathcott.

Women's Soccer (3): Stephanie Dempsey, Ryan Lee, Stephanie Wilkicki.

Softball (2): Colleen Bordages, Amber Daniel.

Women's Golf (2): Kelli McKandless, Michaelyn Morgan.

Men's Track & Field (2): Joel Gittemeier, Korey Wright.

Baseball (1): Jared Clements.

Volleyball (1): Stevie Nicholas.

Women's Tennis (1): Alison Bradley.

According to the latest NCAA Graduation Rates Report, for the 1997-98 freshman class, Baylor led the Big 12 in graduation rates for the fifth time in the league's nine-year history with its school-record 78 percent figure. That mark is some 8 points higher than Baylor's general student population and 16 points better than the NCAA Division I national average of 62 percent.

All-told, 88 percent of Baylor's student-athletes who exhausted their eligibility and entered school from 1988-89 through 1997-98 have left with degree in hand.