RICHMOND, Va. – Six University of Richmond student-athletes were named to the 2024-25 Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) Academic All-State Team. To qualify, student-athletes must be sophomores in academic standing with a minimum 3.25 cumulative grade point average. The VaSID All-State Team recognized 216 student-athletes representing 36 institutions across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Richmond’s honorees include women’s basketball’s Addie Budnik, swimming and diving’s Katie Chignell, women’s cross country and track and field’s Laurel Kurtz and Morgan Lyons, baseball’s Brady O’Brien and men’s lacrosse’s Joe Sheridan.
Budnik earned her fourth straight VaSID Academic All-State honor. A master of business administration major, she led the Spiders to a historic season. Budnik helped Richmond win back-to-back Atlantic 10 regular season titles and earned the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win, a dominant 74-49 victory over Georgia Tech in Los Angeles. She was named to the A-10 All-Conference Second Team and All-Academic Team, the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team and was honored as the VaSID Defensive Player of the Year. Budnik closed her career ranked third on Richmond’s all-time scoring list with 1,897 points.
Chignell earned her first All-State laurel after helping the Spiders to a runner-up finish at the Atlantic 10 Championships. The health studies major won gold in the 400 free relay, setting a new program record with a time of 3:19.32, and placed fifth in the 800 free relay. She also contributed with several top-15 finishes in the finals.
Kurtz, a leadership and rhetoric & communication major, earned A-10 All-Conference First Team honors for the second straight year in cross country. During the indoor season, she helped Richmond finish second at the Atlantic 10 Championships with a seventh-place finish in the 5,000 meters. At the outdoor A-10 Championships, she placed seventh in the 10,000 meters. She capped her career with a gold medal in the 10K at the Outdoor IC4A/ECAC Championships.
Lyons, a health studies major, helped the Spiders to a runner-up finish at the Indoor A-10 Championships, contributing to medals in two relay races. She helped Richmond win silver in the distance medley relay with a time of 11:38.63 and gold in the 4×800 relay with a time of 9:03.23. At the Outdoor A-10 Championships, she again earned gold in the 4×800 with a time of 8:47.46. In her final collegiate race, she helped Richmond win gold in the 4×800 at the Outdoor IC4A/ECAC Championships.
O’Brien, a data analytics major, finished the regular season ranked ninth in the nation with a .777 slugging percentage and 11th in both home runs (20) and RBIs (72). A 2025 Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist, he ended the season with a 22-game on-base streak, 25 multi-hit games and 19 multi-RBI games. He was named to the A-10 All-Academic Team in May and also earned CSC Academic All-District and ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I All-Atlantic Region Second Team honors.
Sheridan, a biochemistry and molecular biology major, helped lead the Spiders to a regular season and Atlantic 10 Championship title. He also contributed to Richmond’s first NCAA Tournament win, a 13-10 victory over North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Sheridan earned USILA All-America Honorable Mention, Inside Lacrosse All-America Honorable Mention, First Team All-Atlantic 10, A-10 All-Academic honors and was named the A-10 Tournament Most Outstanding Performer.
