VILLANOVA, Pa.—It is the start of Senior Week on the Villanova campus and each year that means having the Villanova Athletics family come together to celebrate its graduating student-athletes. University Vice President and Director of Athletics Mack Jackson was the emcee for Monday night's event which recognized the career accomplishments – in athletic competition, in their academic pursuits, and in the community – of more than 140 members of the Class of 2024. Football student-athlete Temi Ajirotutu was selected to represent his classmates and speak on behalf of the Class of 2024.
 
"As we bid farewell to this chapter of our lives, let's do it with gratitude for the experiences we have shared, the friendships we forged and the strength we discovered in ourselves," Ajirotutu said in his remarks. "Villanova athletes have continued to excel on and off the field and, as we continue to look back at our time at Villanova, let us remember the lessons we have learned and the challenges we have overcome. Let us carry forward the resilience, determination, and sense of community we have formed.
 
"When I was asked to give a speech, I said yes before I knew what I was getting myself into. Then I thought, there is nothing better than talking about what makes Villanova such a special place. Take a short moment to look at the person sitting to your left and your right. The answer is always surrounding us."
 
The seniors from each of the Wildcats varsity programs were presented with commemorative watches, while four student-athletes top honors on the evening. Two athletes from the track & field teams – Roschell Clayton and Liam Murphy – were presented with the Senior Student-Athlete of the Year Awards. The senior perception also included the presentation of the annual Sister Mary Margaret Cribben Awards to women's basketball student-athlete Kylie Swider and men's soccer student-athlete Gray Ricca.
 
Celebrations such as the one on Monday night are an opportunity for reflection and a time to look back at the last four years, as well as ahead to what the future lies for the soon-to-be-newest Villanova graduates. Their collective accolades in the arenas of athletic competition, in the classroom and in very corner of campus are equally impressive. The Class of 2024 has made 32 national postseason appearances across 12 different sports.
 
Villanova has won 15 conference team championships and produced 44 individual conference champions over the last four years, not to mention earning 122 all-conference honors, setting 12 school records and one collegiate record. Twenty different teams competed in their conference tournaments at least once during the past four years, even with several having one or more of their competition seasons interrupted by the COVID pandemic.
 
The levels of academic achievement of the Class of 2024 are nothing short of elite and put Villanova University among the top schools nationwide for the combination of its athletic and academic reputations. Villanova Athletics has maintained a department GPA above a 3.3 each semester of their academic careers and the graduating Class of 2024 has a cumulative GPA of 3.4, with 53 percent of the class graduating with honors by having a GPA of 3.5 or higher. That percentage includes 60 student-athletes graduating cum laude (3.5+ GPA), 17 graduating magna cum laude (3.75+ GPA) and three student-athletes who will graduate summa cum laude (3.9+ GPA).
 
On a team level the 24 varsity sports have earned 54 national all-academic team awards in the past four years, while student-athletes have earned 64 selections to national all-academic teams. At the conference and university level, the Class of 2024 has made 359 appearances on conference all-academic teams and earned 625 selections to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (semester GPA of 3.2 or higher).
 
The final tallies for the Villanova Athletics graduating Class of 2024 have yet to be written, with several teams still competing through the end of their Spring seasons.
 
Senior Student-Athlete of the Year
Roschell Clayton, Women's Track & Field
 
Clayton is a two-time All-American high jumper and the school record holder with a mark of 1.88 meters set in February 2024. She first qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 2023 outdoor season and garnered second team All-America honors by tying for a 14^th place finish. Clayton returned to the national championships indoors in 2024 and moved up eight spots to tie for sixth place and earn first team All-America accolades.
 
During her career, Clayton has won three individual BIG EAST titles and been a four-time All-BIG EAST performer. She became the first Villanova women's jumper to win an individual championship at the Penn Relays when she won the high jump this year before going on to secure her third BIG EAST gold medal at the outdoor BIG EAST Championships.
 
Outside of athletic competition, Clayton has been named to the national USTFCCCA All-Academic Team and the BIG EAST All-Academic Team three times each. She has been named to the Philadelphia Academic All-Area Team, as well as to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll every semester on campus. Clayton graduated a semester early and is currently enrolled in graduate school where she has a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
 
Senior Student-Atnlete of the Year
Liam Murphy, Men's Track & Field
 
One of the top middle distance runners in school history, Murphy is already qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials later this Summer. He is an eight-time BIG EAST champion and a four-time All-American during his collegiate career whose biggest highlight came just last month at the Penn Relays. Murphy anchored Villanova to Championship of America titles in the distance medley relay and the 4xMile relay, with the 4xMile team not only winning for the second straight year but doing so with a collegiate record and the second-fastest time in world history of 15:51.91.
 
Murphy has been an All-American in cross country, indoors in both the 3000 meters and the distance medley relay, as well as the outdoor 1500 meters. He holds the absolute school record in the 3000 meters (7:42.51), indoor school records in the mile (3:53.85) and the 5000 meters (13:21.20), as well as being a part of school record performances in the distance medley relay (9:20.44) and the aforementioned 4xMile relay. He is a sub-four minute miler whose lifetime personal bests are 3:53.85 in the mile and 3:36.48 in the 1500 meters. Murphy most recently won the BIG EAST title in the 1500 meters with a Villanova Stadium and BIG EAST Championships record time of 3:39.00 this past weekend.
 
Outside of competition, Murphy has been a two-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and earned two selections to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
 
Sister Mary Margaret Cribben Award
Kylie Swider, Women's Basketball
 
During her four seasons on campus, Swider was a part of some of the most successful teams in Villanova women's basketball history. She helped the Wildcats reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament as a junior in 2022-23, while Villanova advanced to the title game of the inaugural WBIT Tournament in her senior year this past season. Swider earned three selections to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and was a member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll five times, with honors for this year still to be awarded.
 
"In your four years at Villanova, your commitment never wavered to Villanova women's basketball or to giving everything for your teammates and coaches," Wildcats head coach Denise Dillon said in presenting Swider's award. "I am thankful for everything you did in making us better as coaches and people. As you move on and continue your dream of playing basketball, the impact you have made at Villanova will last forever."
 
Sister Mary Margaret Cribben Award
Gray Ricca, Men's Soccer
 
A member of the 2023 graduating class who is enrolled in graduate school at Villanova, Ricca played his final varsity season for the Wildcats this past Fall. He was named the Philadelphia Soccer Six Academic Player of the Year and earned a spot on the Philadelphia Academic All-Area Team in 2022, while his academic honors included being on the BIG EAST All-Academic Team four times and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll in all nine of his semesters on campus. He is also involved with UNITAS leadership and the Every Mind Matters group.
 
"Gray is a person who excels academically, athletically and socially," men's soccer head coach Mark Fetrow said. "He was a team captain this past year, and in addition to being a Division I athlete most people would not know that he spent 20-30 hours weekly in a chemistry lab. He also worked as a TA and ran a lab while still finding time to put in extra time in making himself and his teammates better. On the field, he played every position and never complained about it. He is a student-athlete who epitomizes being bigger than yourself."