Aug. 3, 2011
EVANSTON, Ill. -
The Illinois State swimming and diving team was honored for their hard work in the pool and in the classroom Tuesday, when the team was selected as a spring 2011 Scholar All-America Team by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).
The CSCAA presents the Team Scholar All-American award to college and university swimming and diving teams who have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. The Redbird swimmers and divers combined to achieve a 3.41 team GPA during the spring 2011 semester at Illinois State. The team GPA of 3.41 set a new record for the swimming and diving program, besting the previous best of 3.36 set during the spring 2009 semester. That mark also helped the athletic department set a new record with a 3.34 combined GPA among the women's athletics programs.
ISU head coach Steve Paska is proud of his team's work in the classroom and gives them all the credit for achieving a team record GPA.
"This is a great honor for our team and our student-athletes deserve all the credit and recognition for working so hard during the spring semester," Paska said. "The spring semester is busy time for our swimmers and divers, as they spend the early part of it preparing for the conference championships. I was proud of the way they competed at the conference meet and I am extremely proud of them for finishing out the year strong in the classroom. With the help of the staff over at the athletic study center and in academic advisement, they were able to set a new program GPA record and it's an honor for the program to be recognized by the CSCAA."
A total of 12 members of the ISU swimming and diving team earned perfect 4.0 GPA's during the spring semester and 30 members of the program were named to the AFNI Honor Roll, which honors student-athletes with a 3.0 GPA or better during the semester. The team also had 10 members named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team, tying with Evansville for the most representatives on the list.
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