May 18, 2013
BEAUMONT - Plummer Award winner Jennifer Torry headlines a list of 36 student-athletes who received bachelor's degrees during Lamar University's commencement ceremonies Saturday at the Montagne Center.
A four-year member of the Lamar soccer team, Torry was one of 12 students honored Saturday with the Plummer Award for completing their undergraduate work with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. A native of Langley, British Columbia, Torry has twice been named Academic All-Southland Conference.
Four other members of the Lamar soccer program also earned degrees Saturday. Joining Torry were Lexi Gebhardt, Lorna Maudslay, Jennifer Moore and Lisa Topping. Maudslay was also an academic all-conference honoree this season.
Football had the most graduating seniors of all the sports with nine. Caleb Berry, Kyle Gillam and James Washington all earned degrees Saturday but will be back to compete for the Cardinals in 2013. The six other graduating football players were Patrick Carlton, Blake Chavis, Colton Collins, Kameron Edwards, Adrian Guillory and Doug Prewitt.
Four members of the Lamar track and field team graduated, while two members of the women's team did. Distance runner Sam Stabler, who will be competing at the NCAA West Preliminaries next week, was joined by Alex DeLaGarza, Jamal Nash and Chris Smith. Becky Gough and Claire Miles were the two members of the women's team to graduate.
Three-time all-conference selection Kalis Loyd led a trio of women's basketball players to earn degrees Saturday, joining Carenn Baylor and Chantelle Brockett. Nikko Acosta was the lone men's basketball player to graduate on Saturday.
Golfers Xavier Feyaerts and Erik Knudsen, who helped Lamar win the 2012 Southland Conference title and advance to the NCAA Championship, picked up degrees. Marc Dobias also graduated after playing one season for the Cardinals. On the women's side, Lauren Van Gerven was the only graduating golfer.
All-conference performer Carolina Salas was one of three Lady Cardinal tennis players to graduate. Natalia Mayagoitia and Alessandra Pennesi accepted their diplomas, as did former men's player Carlos Valdenebro.
Wendy Krell, the 2009 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, and Cynthia McCollum were the two graduating volleyball players.
Lamar also had a pair of graduating baseball players in Garret Autrey and Darian Johnson. The duo not only picked up their degrees Saturday, but also suited up for a home game against Nicholls later in the day.
Lamar's 2013 May Graduates
Baseball (2): Garret Autrey and Darian Johnson
Men's Basketball (1): Nikko Acosta
Women's Basketball (3): Carenn Baylor, Chantelle Brockett and Kalis Loyd
Football (9): Caleb Berry, Patrick Carlton, Blake Chavis, Colton Collins, Kameron Edwards, Kyle Gillam, Adrian Guillory, Doug Prewitt and James Washington
Men's Golf (3): Marc Dobias, Xavier Feyaerts and Erik Knudsen
Women's Golf (1): Lauren Van Gerven
Soccer (5): Lexi Gebhardt, Lorna Maudslay, Jennifer Moore, Lisa Topping and Jennifer Torry
Men's Tennis (1): Carlos Valdenebro
Women's Tennis (3): Natalia Mayagoitia, Alessandra Pennesi and Carolina Salas
Men's Track & Field/Cross Country (4): Sam Bradley, Alex DeLaGarza, Jamal Nash and Chris Smith
Women's Track & Field/Cross Country (2): Becky Gough and Claire Miles
Volleyball (2):>Wendy Krell and Cynthia McCollum
LAMAR
