All-Americans Headline Group of 51 Husker Graduates

Lincoln - A total of 51 Husker student-athletes who combined for 33 All-America awards during their Husker careers received their diplomas at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's commencement exercises at Pinnacle Bank Arena Saturday morning.

Coach Mark Manning's wrestling team accounted for eight members of the Husker graduating class, including a trio of All-Americans who collected a total of six All-America awards during their careers. Three-time All-American and 2016 NCAA runner-up TJ Dudley (Irmo, S.C.) earned his degree as a psychology major, while two-time All-American Eric Montoya (Albuquerque, N.M.) added a degree in management. All-American Aaron Studebaker (Raymond, Neb.) also earned his diploma as an animal science major. Tim Lambert (Forest Hills, Mich.), Collin Jensen (Mobridge, S.D.), Eric Engler (Beatrice, Neb.), Micah Barnes (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Gage Anderson (Seattle, Wash.) completed a class of wrestling graduates that came to Nebraska from seven states across the nation.

The Nebraska football program contributed seven members to the Husker class of spring graduates, including Christian Bailey (San Clemente, Calif.), Zach Hannon (Kansas City, Mo.), Dwayne Johnson (Houston, Texas), Joel Lopez (St. Charles, Ill.), Gabe Miller (Mishawaka, Ind.), Gabe Rahn (Le Mars, Iowa) and Jamie Sutcliffe (Thousand Oaks, Calif.).

Coach Gary Pepin's men's track and field program also contributed seven graduates to the group, including eight-time All-American Levi Gipson (Lincoln, Neb.), who was also a three-time first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American during his distinguished career. Gipson earned prestigious NCAA and Big Ten Conference Postgraduate scholarships after majoring in nutrition, exercise and health science at Nebraska. Four-time All-American Oladapo Akinmoladun (Grandview, Mo.) added to a talented collection of track and field graduates, along with two-time All-American Mate Koroknai (Debrecen, Hungary). The trio of All-Americans was joined by Brandon Benson (Axtell, Neb.), Matt Gilbert (Fenton, Mich.), Jacob Olson (Kearney, Neb.) and Edgar Propst (Baltimore, Md.) among the Husker graduates.

On the women's side, Morgan Dworak (Lincoln, Neb.), Kari Heck (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Lexie Oak (Kansas City, Mo.) and Kristi Oslund (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) rounded out a list of 11 total graduates from Nebraska's tradition-rich track and field programs.

The Nebraska soccer program under the direction of Coach John Walker contributed four talented graduates to the class, including 2016 All-American Jaycie Johnson (Lake Winnebago, Mo.). Johnson was one of three advertising and public relations majors from the soccer program to graduate, joining Courtney Claassen (Parkville, Mo.) and Sydney Miramontez (Lenexa, Kan.), while teammate Kelly Schatz (Naperville, Ill.) majored in finance and marketing.

The Nebraska women's basketball program also provided four graduates to the class, including Emily Wood (Salina, Kan.) who completed her degree in management in just three years. She will play her senior season for Coach Amy Williams and the Huskers with her degree in hand while pursuing a master's degree in business administration. Allie Havers (Mattawan, Mich.), Esther Ramacieri (Repentigny, Quebec, Canada) and Anya Kalenta (Minsk, Belarus) joined Wood in the graduating class.

The Husker women's tennis team contributed three grads to the 2017 spring class, including seniors Lisa Andersson (Varberg, Sweden) and Mary Hanna (Saline, Mich.). They were joined by junior Katerina Matysova (Erding, Germany).

The Nebraska softball program pitched in a pair of graduates led by two-time All-American and current professional softball player Kiki Stokes (Olathe, Kan.) along with current Husker shortstop Rachel Arthur (Lincoln, Neb.).

The Husker rifle team added a pair of All-Americans to the graduating class, including seven-time All-American and 2015 NCAA champion Rachel Martin (Peralta, N.M.). She was joined by All-American Jaycee Carter (Live Oak, Calif.).

The Nebraska men's basketball program also produced a pair of graduates in All-Big Ten guard Tai Webster (Auckland, New Zealand) and Nick Fuller (Sun Prairie, Wis.), as did the Husker men's gymnastics team with Sanjaya Roy (Douglassville, Pa.) and Coleman Tokar (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Two-time All-American Kelly Hunter (Papillion, Neb.) from the Nebraska volleyball program completed the list of All-Americans in the Husker graduating class, while the women's gymnastics team (Jennie Laeng, West Middlesex, Pa.), baseball team (Pat Kelly, Red Wing, Minn.), men's golf team (Michael Colgate, Sarasota, Fla.), women's golf team (Sarah Pravecek, Omaha, Neb.), and the swimming and diving team (Julia Roller, Naperville, Ill.) each contributed graduates to the group.

NU's May 2017 graduates came from near and far to call Nebraska home during their careers. The group came to Lincoln from 19 states, including 10 native Nebraskans, and six foreign countries including Belarus, Canada, Germany, Hungary, New Zealand and Sweden.

Nebraska continues to feature one of the highest graduation rates in the country, while leading the nation in the number of CoSIDA Academic All-Americans (327) and NCAA Top 10 Award winners (17) across all sports.

May 2017 Nebraska Student-Athlete Graduates (51)

• Oladapo Akinmoladun, Track & Field (Grandview, Mo.) - Nutrition Science/Microbiology
• Gage Anderson, Wrestling (Seattle, Wash.) - Psychology
• Lisa Andersson, Women's Tennis (Varberg, Sweden) - Marketing
• Rachel Arthur, Softball (Lincoln, Neb.) - Criminology & Criminal Justice
• Christian Bailey, Football (San Clemente, Calif.) - Finance
• Micah Barnes, Wrestling (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) - Psychology
• Brandon Benson, Track & Field (Axtell, Neb.) - Agribusiness
• Jaycee Carter, Rifle (Live Oak, Calif.) - Agribusiness
• Courtney Claassen, Soccer (Parkville, Mo.) - Advertising & Public Relations
• Michael Colgate, Men's Golf (Sarasota, Fla.) - Accounting
• TJ Dudley, Wrestling (Irmo, S.C.) - Psychology
• Morgan Dworak, Track & Field (Lincoln, Neb.) - Advertising & Public Relations
• Eric Engler, Wrestling (Beatrice, Neb.) - Architectural Studies
• Nick Fuller, Men's Basketball (Sun Prairie, Wis.) - Management
• Matt Gilbert, Cross Country/Track & Field (Fenton, Mich.) - Accounting/Actuarial Science/Finance
• Levi Gipson, Track & Field (Lincoln, Neb.) - Nutrition, Exercise & Health Science
• Mary Hanna, Women's Tennis (Saline, Mich.) - Advertising & Public Relations
• Zach Hannon, Football (Kansas City, Mo.) - Management/Marketing
• Allie Havers, Women's Basketball (Mattawan, Mich.) - Psychology
• Kari Heck, Track & Field (Sioux Falls, S.D.) - Biological Systems Engineering
• Kelly Hunter, Volleyball (Papillion, Neb.) - Management/Marketing
• Collin Jensen, Wrestling (Mobridge, S.D.) - Management
• Dwayne Johnson, Football (Houston, Texas) - Criminology & Criminal Justice
• Jaycie Johnson, Soccer (Lake Winnebago, Mo.) - Advertising & Public Relations
• Anya Kalenta, Women's Basketball (Minsk, Belarus) - Chemistry
• Pat Kelly, Baseball (Red Wing, Minn.) - Criminology & Criminal Justice
• Mate Koroknai, Track & Field (Debrecen, Hungary) - Electrical Engineering
• Jennie Laeng, Women's Gymnastics (West Middlesex, Pa.) - Psychology
• Tim Lambert, Wrestling (Forest Hills, Mich.) - Fisheries & Wildlife
• Joel Lopez, Football (St. Charles, Ill.) - Child, Youth & Family Studies
• Rachel Martin, Rifle (Peralta, N.M.) - Classics & Religious Studies
• Katerina Matysova, Women's Tennis (Erding, Germany) - Psychology
• Gabe Miller, Football (Mishawaka, Ind.) - Animal Science
• Sydney Miramontez, Soccer (Lenexa, Kan.) - Advertising & Public Relations
• Eric Montoya, Wrestling (Albuquerque, N.M.) - Management
• Lexie Oak, Track & Field (Kansas City, Mo.) - Mechanical Engineering
• Jacob Olson, Cross Country/Track & Field (Kearney, Neb.) -  Chemical Engineering
• Kristi Oslund, Cross Country/Track & Field (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) - Business Administration
• Sarah Pravecek, Women's Golf (Omaha, Neb.) - Marketing
• Edgar Propst, Cross Country/Track & Field (Baltimore, Md.) - Criminology & Criminal Justice
• Gabe Rahn, Football (Le Mars, Iowa) - Nutrition, Exercise & Health Science
• Esther Ramacieri, Women's Basketball (Repentigny, Quebec, Canada) - Marketing
• Julia Roller, Swimming & Diving (Naperville, Ill.) - Dietetics
• Sanjaya Roy, Men's Gymnastics (Douglassville, Pa.) - Psychology
• Kelly Schatz, Soccer (Naperville, Ill.) - Finance/Marketing
• Kiki Stokes, Softball (Olathe, Kan.) - Child, Youth & Family Studies
• Aaron Studebaker, Wrestling (Raymond, Neb.) - Animal Science
• Jamie Sutcliffe, Football (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) - Marketing
• Coleman Tokar, Men's Gymnastics (Minneapolis, Minn.) - Mathematics Education
• Tai Webster, Men's Basketball (Auckland, New Zealand) - Sociology
• Emily Wood, Women's Basketball (Salina, Kan.) - Management