Student-Athletes Receive Degrees at Winter Commencement – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | General
COLUMBUS, Ohio Thirty current and former Ohio State student-athletes received degrees Sunday at Winter Commencement ceremonies in the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
Among the recipients were former baseball Academic All-American Mike Lockwood, starting football tailback Michael Wiley, a former member of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, Todd Boeckman, the starting quarterback on the 2007 football Big Ten championship team, J.D. Bergman, a two-time wrestling All-American, and Krystin Schmid, a pistol All-American.
Stephanie Blanton (women’s basketball) and Briana McCarthy (women’s volleyball) also graduated. Blanton, a member of three Big Ten championship teams, earned her degree in health sciences. McCarthy, like Blanton, was a multiple Academic All-Big Ten recipient and graduated in sports and leisure studies.
Lockwood, an Academic All-American in 1999, ranks among Ohio State’s all-time Top 10 in batting average, hits, runs scored and home runs. He left Ohio State to pursue a professional baseball career and spent a number of years with the Oakland A’s and Boston Red Sox organizations.
After completing his collegiate football career in 1999 and going on to play for the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League, Wiley returned to complete his degree in sociology through Ohio State’s degree completion program. Wiley was the starting tailback on one of Ohio State’s most-prolific offenses on the 1998 Big Ten Championship squad and finished his career with nearly 3,000 total yards. Marcus Green also received his degree Sunday as part of the Degree Completion Program. He finished his football career with the Buckeyes in 2005 and played several seasons in the NFL.
The starting quarterback for Ohio State’s 2007 Big Ten Champion and national runner-up squad, Boeckman was a first-team All-Big Ten selection. He led the Buckeyes to an 11-2 record by passing for nearly 2,400 yards and 25 touchdowns in 13 starts.
Bergman is a two-time All-American and a three-time national qualifier who will compete at the NCAA Championships March 20-22. He will end his wrestling career in the Top 6 all-time in wins at Ohio State, entering the NCAA event with 129 career victories. Bergman was a three-time Big Ten Conference championship runner-up.
Schmid was a member of the 2007 women’s air national championship team and earned NRA All-America honors in two events (sport pistol/second team, air pistol/honorable mention).
Alex Bailey, an All-Big Ten performer in cross country in 2007, earned his degree in biology.
2008 Ohio State Winter Quarter Commencement
Student-Athlete Graduates
Sport Name College (Major)
Baseball Matthew Davis EHE (Family Resource Management)
Baseball Michael Lockwood EHE (Sport and Leisure Studies)
Football Todd Boeckman EHE (Family Resource Management)
Football Steve Fender EHE (Sport and Leisure Studies)
Football Andrew Good BUS (Accounting)
Football Marcus Green EHE Family Resource Management
Football Curt Lukens EHE Family Resource Management
Football Dimitrios Makridis BUS (Operations Management)
Football Steven Rehring EHE (Family Resource Management)
Football Tyler Whaley AMP (Health Sciences Program)
Football Michael Wiley SBS (Sociology)
Football Zachris Willis EHE (Family Resource Management)
Men’s Gym Douglas Stibel EHE (Sport and Leisure Studies)
Men’s Lacrosse Thomas Sraver HUM (History)
Men’s Soccer Robert Strachan EHE (Family Resource Management)
Wrestling James Bergman SBS (Communication)
Wrestling Alex Picazo BUS (Special Major)
Wrestling Tommy Priestley SBS (Political Science)
Wrestling Chris Vondruska GRAD (Education: PAES)
Pistol Mark Burns BIO (Biology)
Pistol Krystin Schmid ENG (Civil Engineering)
Women’s BBall Stephanie Blanton AMP (Health Sciences Program)
Women’s CC/T&F Melanie Price ARC (Architecture)
Field Hockey Dawn Pederson HUM (English)
Women’s Hockey Krysta Skarda BUS (Marketing)
Women’s LAX Danielle Gibson EHE (Human Development and Family Science)
Women’s LAX Kelyn Laws EHE (Human Nutrition)
Women’s Soccer Katie Linehan EHE (Nutrition)
Women’s Soccer Alyxandra Portier EHE (Psychology)
Women’s VB Briana McCarthy EHE (Sport and Leisure Studies)
Cross Country Alex Bailey BIO (Biological Sciences)
EHE/Education and Human Ecology; BUS/Business; AMP/Allied Medial Professions; SBS/Social and Behavioral Sciences; HUM/Humanities; GRAD/Graduate School; BIO/Biological Sciences; ENG/Engineering; ARC/Architecture
