May 14, 2009
Twenty-six past and present UTEP student-athletes will earn degrees from the university this weekend.
The football and track and field programs top the list with eight graduates each. Four of the student-athletes hail from softball, two from men's golf, two from volleyball and one each from men's and women's basketball.
UTEP's top graduating student-athlete this spring is softball's Stacie Townsend, who was recognized as a UTEP Top 10 Senior and the university's Woman of the Year. She completed her bachelor's degree in business in just three years with a 4.0 grade point average and is graduating summa cum laude. She has already been accepted into the graduate program at UTEP and plans to pursue her master's degree, concentrating on international finance, while completing her eligibility in 2010. She has been a star pitcher and batter for the Miners, posting 18 wins in the circle in 2009 while hitting .283 with eight homers and 32 RBI.
Highlighting the list of football graduates are George Kelly, Jose Martinez, Cameron Raschke, Adam Vincent and Zach West, who were all starters for the Miners. Kelly was third on the team in tackles in 2008 with 65. Martinez is one of the greatest kickers in school history and hit a 64-yard field goal against UCF last season. Raschke will be playing his senior year (2009) as a graduate student and has started 27 games in the UTEP offensive line over the last three seasons. Vincent led the Miners with 110 tackles in '08 en route to earning first team All-Conference USA honors. West was a member of UTEP's '04 and '05 bowl teams and spent some time in the NFL with New England and Cleveland.
The list of graduates from track and field includes All-Americans Elias Koech, Japheth Ng'ojoy, Stephen Samoei and Alex van der Merwe. Koech, Ng'ojoy and van der Merwe played major roles in the Miners picking up a 13th-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Meet. Koech was fifth in the 800 meter run, Ng'ojoy was eighth in the 10,000 meters and van der Merwe was fifth in the javelin. Samoei did most of his damage in cross country, where he earned three All-America honors and was a three-time Conference USA Athlete of the Year.
Roger Sloan is the best player on the men's golf team this season, fashioning a 72.6 stroke average to date to earn second team All-Conference USA honors. He finished in the top 10 at four tournaments and will be participating in NCAA Regionals this weekend.
Rounding out the list of graduates are Tavaris Watts from men's basketball; Ilda Chambe from women's basketball; Manuel Torres from men's golf; Alan Kirkland, Dane O'Neill and Roddray Walker from football; Jennifer Davis, Nichole Tunget and Andi Zolton from softball; Megan Chojnacki, William Dodd, Omololu Ogunlana and Nina Schvedoff from track and field; and Keisha Hyman-Gifth and Christie Murphy from volleyball.
2009 UTEP Athletics Spring Graduates
George Kelly - Football - Multidisciplinary Studies
Alan Kirkland - Football - Multidisciplinary Studies
Jose Martinez - Football - Multidisciplinary Studies
Dane O'Neill - Football - Criminal Justice/Political Science
Cameron Raschke - Football - Kinesiology
Adam Vincent - Football - Multidisciplinary Studies
Roddray Walker - Football - Multidisciplinary Studies
Zach West - Football - Multidisciplinary Studies
Tavaris Watts - Men's Basketball - Multidisciplinary Studies
Ilda Chambe - Women's Basketball - Multidisciplinary Studies
William Dodd - Men's Track & Field - Kinesiology
Elias Koech - Men's Track & Field - Accounting/CIS
Japheth Ng'ojoy - Men's Track & Field - Biology/Secondary Education
Omololu Ogunlana - Men's Track & Field - Multidisciplinary Studies
Stephen Samoei - Men's Track & Field - Nursing
Alex van der Merwe - Men's Track & Field - Psychology/Criminal Justice
Megan Chojnacki - Women's Track & Field - Multidisciplinary Studies
Nina Schvedoff - Women's Track & Field - Management
Keisha Hyman-Gifth - Volleyball - Biology/English Literature
Christie Murphy - Volleyball - Music/Vocal Performance
Jennifer Davis - Softball - Multidisciplinary Studies
Stacie Townsend - Softball - General Business
Nichole Tunget - Softball - Multidisciplinary Studies
Andi Zolton - Softball - Biology/Chemistry
Roger Sloan - Men's Golf - Finance
Manuel Torres - Men's Golf - Biology/Chemistry
