LAS CRUCES, N.M. - This weekend, 49 current and former NM State student-athletes joined the ever-growing ranks of Aggie alumni around the nation by taking part in the university's Spring 2021 Commencement ceremonies.
The weekend's commencement exercises consisted of a trio of different ceremonies due to ongoing COVID-19 policies and guidelines in place both at NM State and the state of New Mexico as a whole. Friday night, all master and doctoral degree recipients took part in a limited attendance in-person ceremony at Aggie Memorial Stadium. Saturday, all Bachelor degree recipients were allowed to attend a limited attendance in-person ceremony at Aggie Memorial Stadium. All degree recipients were invited to join a virtual commencement ceremony Saturday morning, too.
Football boasted the most graduates with 14 (including one graduate assistant coach) while women's track & field was next up with nine graduates. Baseball saw seven Aggies receive their degrees, while men's basketball, men's cross country, softball and women's basketball each witnessed three of their student-athletes become alums. Women's golf had a pair of student-athletes graduate while volleyball and women's swimming and diving had one graduate apiece.
Below is a complete list of student-athletes who took part in Saturday's commencement exercises. NM State's alumni base now numbers at over 130,000 individuals.
Baseball | Ronnie Allen, Jr., Joey Arellano, Jake Baer, Frank Dickson Jr., Lyle Hibbitts, Chris Jefferson, Tommy Tabak
Men's Basketball | Tennessee Owens, Bryce Rewalt, C.J. Roberts
Men's Cross Country | Iley Bruce, James McLain, Noah Ward
Football | Eli Anderson, Andre Bodison, Michael Bowe Jr., Dylan Brown, Marcus Buckley, Jalen Guerrero, Brandon Perkins, Austin Reeves, Evan Tafoya-Vallo, Garrison Tullos, Blake Walker, Terrell Warner, Xander Yarberough, Matthew Young
Soccer | Dmitri Fong, Jody Hernandez, Kaitlyn May
Softball | Keala Brown, Nikki Butler, Analise De La Roca
Women's Basketball | Kalei Atkinson, Aaliyah Prince, Amanda Soderqvist
Women's Golf | Pun Chanachai, Kehler Koss
Women's Swimming & Diving | Olivia Bender
Women's Track & Field | Telecia Briscoe, Corinne Hanson, Bristol O'Connor, Yemisi Oroyinyin, Leah Salazar, Keosha Sanders, Lashira Tremble, Asjah Wallace, Madelin Whelpley
Volleyball | Natalie Mikels
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