BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State University held its 2018 spring commencement ceremonies May 11-12, and 64 current and former Mountaineer student-athletes received a bachelor's or master's degree from the university.
Nearly every App State sport boasted a graduate over the weekend, including the Sun Belt champion football and men's cross country teams and the Southern Conference champion wrestling team.
Many graduates were recognized for their hard work and dedication at the annual Senior Dinner on Thursday night, where they celebrated with their coaches, academic advisors, Director of Athletics
Doug Gillin and other members of the App State athletics administration.
Women's cross country, winner of the 2018 APPSPY for Team Academic Excellence, was represented by graduates
Leigh Harrow,
Kerry Leonard,
Alison Peters and
Hana Ratcliffe.
Among the 64 graduates, five Mountaineer student-athletes furthered their educational career and received their master's degree from App State this spring: Doug Middleton from football,
Katherine Johnson from softball, Alex Free from men's tennis and
Denzel Dejournette and
Forrest Przybysz from wrestling.
App State is also holding special ceremonies for baseball and track & field, who were out of town last weekend at Georgia State and the Sun Belt Track & Field Championships, respectively. Baseball's graduation will take place before first pitch of Saturday's 1 p.m. home season finale vs. Coastal Carolina. Track & field's graduation took place on Saturday, May 5.
Since its 2014-15 transition to the Sun Belt Conference for all but two sports (wrestling and field hockey), App State has paced the league in academic performance among its student-athletes. Last year, App State won the Sun Belt Institutional Graduation Rate Award for the second time in three years. The Mountaineers led the league with 237 combined student-athletes on the 2016-17 Sun Belt Commissioner's List (3.5+ GPA) or Academic Honor Roll (3.0-3.49 GPA).
May & August 2018 Graduates:
