100 USF Student-Athletes to Graduate in 2016-17
Bulls earning degrees this weekend includes recent NFL free agent signee Nigel Harris, three-time conference champion golfer Rigel Fernandes and USF Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Sophia Brown
TAMPA, MAY 5, 2017 – More than 70 USF student-athletes will receive their degrees on Friday and Saturday, when the University of South Florida holds commencement ceremonies at the Sun Dome.
The 73 total student-athletes projected to graduate this spring make up USF Athletics' largest graduating class since 2012. More than 100 student-athletes will graduate from USF in the 2016-17 school year.
Among those projected to earn their degrees include USF Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and pole vaulter Sophia Brown, two-time all-region honoree and infielder Kristen Wyckoff, and all-conference tennis player Vera Bessonova.
Eleven student-athletes from the school record 11-win football team will earn their degrees, including four-year starter and recent NFL free agent signee, Nigel Harris. Starting center and Lee Roy Selmon Award recipient, Cameron Ruff is also expected to graduate along with 2016 all-conference right guard, Dominique Threatt.
A duo of men's tennis players, Sasha Gozun and Vadym Kalyuzhnyy, are also expected to graduate. The pair of student-athletes guided USF men's tennis to four consecutive American Athletic Conference Championships.
Three members of the women's basketball team will be earning their degrees. Paige Cashin, Ariadna Pujol, and Katelyn Weber are the first in program history to reach three NCAA Tournaments.
Men's soccer will also graduate three student-athletes including starting goalkeeper Spasoje Stefanovic who guided USF to two American Athletic Conference Championships. Stefanovic is a two-time Goalkeeper of the Year in The American and was twice named first team all-conference.
Rigel Fernandes will graduate after helping USF men's golf capture its third straight conference championship title in wire-to-wire fashion. Fernandes also has been a part of USF's first two teams to make the NCAA Championship rounds. The Bradenton, Fla., native earned PING All-America honorable mention honors after the Bulls' first NCAA Championship trip in 2014-15.
The 2017 spring commencement ceremonies will take place on Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6 at 9 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on both days. All ceremonies take place as the USF Sun Dome. Parking and admittance is free.
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men's and women's teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 competing at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls' athletic program celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015, having started with a men's soccer contest in 1965. Nearly 500 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of Tampa campus. The Bulls have claimed 11 conference titles in the American Athletic Conference since 2013. Nine USF programs reached NCAA post-season competition in the 2015-16 and USF posted a program-record 86 percent Graduation Success Rate among student-athletes in the latest reporting.
– #GoBulls –
Spring 2017 USF Athletics Graduates
