Nearly 50 USF Student-Athletes Projected to Graduate This Spring
Gallery: (5/2/2019) Graduates Spring 2019
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, MAY 2, 2019 – USF Athletics congratulates another outstanding group of student-athletes expected to receive their degrees during spring commencement ceremonies Thursday through Saturday at the Yuengling Center.
A total of 49 student-athletes are projected to earn degrees this spring, which increases USF Athletics' total number of graduates to more than 250 in the past three years. The Bulls registered a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for the third straight year in 2017-18 and have posted a program record eight straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0.
Among the student-athletes projected to graduate this week are 11 members of head coach
Charlie Strong's football team that made the program's fourth straight bowl game appearance in 2018.
Defensive end
Kirk Livingstone (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) will receive his degree in health sciences on Thursday afternoon. USF's 2019 Male Scholar Athlete award recipient and aspiring physician's assistant will pursue a second degree in biomedical sciences in the fall while he plays his senior season of football for the Bulls. Livingstone will bring 102 career tackles and 21.0 tackles for loss, tied for most among Bulls returners, into his senior campaign.
"I think there's a reason why God placed me at this school," Livingstone said. "I'm just very thankful for the people here who helped shape me the last four years. I'm lucky enough to have another six months here."
Also returning for his senior football season is offensive tackle
Marcus Norman (Sebastian, Fla.), who is expected to receive his degree in information studies this week. Last fall, Norman started 13 games at right tackle and helped
Jordan Cronkrite post the ninth 1,000-yard rushing season in program history and tie the program record with five straight 100-yard rushing games.
This week is a special time for record-setting women's basketball star
Kitija Laksa, who will receive her degree in psychology. The two-time WBCA All-America honorable mention missed the majority of the 2018-19 season with an injury after setting two NCAA records in 2017-18 for consecutive made three-pointers in a game (11) and season free throw percentage (96.5). Laksa (Riga, Latvia) was honored as the 2018 USF Female Student-Athlete of the Year at the 36th annual Sports Club of Tampa Bay Hall of Fame Induction Banquet in March.
Guard
T.J. Lang (Mobile, Ala.) and center
Nikola Scekic (Belgrade, Serbia) are expected to walk across the Yuengling Center stage this week after playing roles in a historic season for head coach
Brian Gregory's men's basketball team. USF produced the best turnaround in the NCAA this season with a school-record 24 wins, 14 more victories than the season before, on the way to winning the College Basketball Invitational, the program's first postseason tournament championship since 1990.
Alberto Barroso-Campos (Montijo, Spain) has earned his degree in communication and is currently in Austin, Texas with conference coach of the year
Ashley Fisher's USF men's tennis team, which will face Alabama in the first round of the NCAA Championship on Friday at 10 a.m. Barroso-Campos recently led the Bulls to their fifth American Athletic Conference Championship title and was named conference player of the year. The league tournament's Most Outstanding Player also qualified for the NCAA Men's Singles Championship and he's ranked No. 15 nationally with a 20-2 record in singles play.
Also away from Tampa because of competition this weekend are six spring graduates from head coach
Ken Eriksen's 25
th-ranked softball team –
Macy Cook (Uniontown, Ohio),
Lindsey Devitt (Jacksonville, Fla.),
Nicole Doyle (Aurora, Ohio),
Cheyenne Eggens (Vienna, Ohio),
Mia Fung (Tampa) and
Aubrey Ledbetter (Anthen, Ariz.). Those seniors have helped the first-place Bulls (38-15, 16-2 in AAC) complete five straight conference series sweeps while they chase after of the program's second straight league regular season title.
Three members of head coach
Cristina Moros' women's tennis team are expected to receive their degrees this week –
Nicole Dzenga (Harare, Zimbabwe),
Vanja Klaric (Gaborone, Botswana) and
Ana Roman Dominguez (Burgos, Spain). All three Bulls were a part of the program's conference tournament championship team in 2017 and returned to the league tournament title match this spring.
"It's been an honor to be a student-athlete here," Klaric said. "Not only have I gotten the chance the play the sport that I love, but I also found another passion within the field of psychology, which I hope to devote my life to one day."
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men's and women's teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls' athletic program began in 1965 and is in its 53rd season in 2018-19. Nearly 500 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 17 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, and own 118 conference titles overall. Nine USF programs reached national postseason competition in the 2017-18 season and six were ranked in the Top 25 nationally. The Bulls posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for the third straight year in 2017-18 and have posted a program record eight straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0. USF has more than 250 student-athletes earn their degree in the last three years.
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