FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The University of Alaska Fairbanks held its 96th commencement ceremony over the weekend, honoring the Class of 2018 at the Carlson Center on Saturday, May 5. The University handed out approximately 1,414 degrees to some 1,314 students made up of 714 women and 595 men, including 28 student-athletes.

Alaska's 28 graduating student-athletes is only one less from the Class of 2017, which featured 29 student-athletes from all 10 sports. On Saturday, at least one student-athlete from every Alaska Nanooks team was represented with men's cross country running leading the way by graduating a department-high seven seniors.

The commencement ceremony was highlighted by two student-athletes graduating with honors, both cum laude (3.5-3.74).

The Class of 2018 also featured coed rifle's Sagen Maddalena, who was named the Alaska Nanooks' 2018 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Nanook Athletic Advisory Committee last month and the Alaska Nanooks' Most Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year. Cross country runners Lyon Kopsack and Carl Wahlin were named the 2018 Co-Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year last month and are also included in UAF's Class of 2018.

Of the 28 graduates, four were selected as the Dr. William Wood Scholar-Athlete award winners for their respective teams, including Maddalena, Alex Bergholtz (women's cross country), Maddie Davis (volleyball) and Kopsack (men's cross country).

The full list of Alaska's 28 student-athletes who graduated on Saturday are listed below:

Men's Basketball
LaDonavan Wilder

Women's Basketball
Lexi Carpenter (Baccalaureate)
Cassi Williams

Men's Cross Country/Nordic Ski
Jan Cech
Alexander Eckert
Lyon Kopsack
Nick Lovett
Daniel Serventi
Seiji Takagi
Carl Wahlin

Women's Cross Country/Nordic Ski
Alex Bergholtz (Associate/cum laude)
Kim Fitzgerald
Cheyenne Greenside
Aasne Hoveid
Sarissa Lammers (cum laude)
Tatjana Spaic
Ann-Cathrin Uhl

Hockey
Kyle Froese
Zach Frye
Nick Hinz
Tayler Munson
Austin Vieth

Rifle
Luke Johnson
Sagen Maddalena

Swimming
Martha Hood
Katie Stark

Volleyball
Maddie Davis
Rachel Nichols

In addition to the 28 graduates on Saturday, the Class of 2018 also featured eight former Alaska Nanooks student-athletes, including:
*indicates MBA

Lilah Bourdon (volleyball)
Alexandra Derifield (women's basketball)
Gabriela Jimenez (women's basketball)
*Jaylee Mays (women's basketball)
Nga Nguyen (swimming)
Zach Pederson (men's basketball)
*Kevin Petovello (hockey)
*Heidi Pichler (women's basketball)








































































































































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