The CSCAA announced that seven conferences had 100% of their swimming and diving teams selected as Scholar All-America teams. Every member of The American Athletic Conference, Big XII, Big East, Colonial Athletic Association, Missouri Valley, Northeast and Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – 161 teams in all – received Scholar All-America honors by earning GPAs of 3.00 or higher for the Fall Semester.
Six men’s conferences, the Big East, America East, Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), Big XII, American Athletic Conference (AAC) and Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) achieved 100% recognition.
The Big East’s average GPA (3.36), second only to the Ivy League (3.39) which placed 88 percent of their teams Scholar All-America list. In Division II, the Bluegrass Mountain Conference earned the highest GPA (3.35) while University Athletic Association (3.47) posted the highest GPA all men’s conferences.
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Division III) was the only non-Division I men’s league to have all teams earn the recognition. The nine-team SCIAC earned a 3.31 average GPA.
For the women, seventeen conferences, representing 131 teams achieved perfection with 100% of their member institutions receiving the award.
The Big XII Conference stood out as one of the best among Division I. The league had all five swimming & diving programs listed as Scholar All-America teams and posted the highest GPA among all Division I women’s conferences with a collective 3.51.
Highlighting Division II, the Sunshine State Conference put all seven of their teams on the honor roll and had a league GPA of 3.49. That GPA is good enough to put them at the top of Division II, for men and women combined.
In Division III, the SCIAC again led the way along with the Heartland Conference. Both leagues boasted 100% on their teams earning Scholar All-America highlighted by league GPAs of 3.51 and 3.35 respectively.
In total, eighty-five conferences placed at least sixty percent of their swimming & diving teams onto the Scholar All-America list.
Members of the CSCAA Scholar All-America Committee include Paul Richards, Chair (Dickinson), Brent Summers (Willamette), Gwynn Harrison (Bridgewater), Hollie Bonewit-Cron (Miami-OH), Jason Hite (Indianapolis), Jonathan Jordan (Lincoln College), Jerod Simek (Truman State), Milania Socha (Dartmouth), Nikki Rosen (Davis & Elkins), RC Weston (Alfred State).
Founded in 1922, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) – the oldest organization of college coaches in America – is a professional organization of college swimming and diving coaches dedicated to serving and providing leadership for the advancement of the sport of swimming & diving at the collegiate level.
For more information on the Scholar All-America and see a list of award recipients from all divisions, click here.