A total of 20 student-athletes representing six sports are set to receive their diplomas in the 141st commencement ceremony this weekend in the Knapp Center.
 
This group of accomplished student-athletes includes two State Farm Good Neighbor Award recipients and MVC scholar- athlete of the week winners and five all-academic award recipients. Five have also been a part of an NSCAA team academic award winning team for soccer, while last year Emma Donahue was an integral part of the women's basketball team that had the 10th best GPA in the country. James Wypych of men's soccer was selected to the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team. Taylor Coleman of football and James Grunert and Darrin MacLeod of men's soccer were also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District teams during their careers at Drake.
 
Athletically, seven earned all-conference honors of some degree, including MacLeod who finished his career as Drake's all-time leader in saves, wins and shutouts. Another standout student-athlete, Eric Saubert, was a two time All-American on the Drake football team.
 
Saturday's commencement puts the final touches on these student-athletes outstanding academic careers. Six of the 20 received the Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award which requires the athletes to maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Eight others also earned their way on to the honor roll which requires a 3.2 GPA during the season of play.
 
Below are the students scheduled to receive their diplomas this weekend.
 
Softball
Mariah McKinnon – Elementary Education
Ashlie Chambers – Marketing (Cum Laude)
 
Women's Basketball
Emma Donahue - Elementary Education (Cum Laude)
 
Women's Soccer
Alex Freeman – Psychology – (Cum Laude)
 
Men's Soccer
James Grunert – Health Sciences (Magna Cum Laude)
Darrin MacLeod – Health Sciences (Cum Laude)
Eric Williams – Health Sciences (Cum Laude)
James Wypych - International Relations (Cum Laude)
 
Men's Track
Kai Asberry – Law, Politics & Society, International Relations
Ethan Turner – Writing/Radio-Television
 
Football
Blake Beauchamp – Marketing
Taylor Coleman – Finance (Magna Cum Laude)
Rory Driscoll – Health Sciences
Grant Krueger – Environmental Science
Aaron Melton – Information Systems, Marketing
Michael Roane – Entrepreneurial Management, Marketing
Eric Saubert – Actuarial Sciences
Cody Stepanek – Marketing
Zach Zlabis – Information Systems, Marketing
Caz Zyks – Management