Oct. 21, 2008
COLLEGE STATION - The Texas A&M women's swimming & diving team earned a variety of academic honors from the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), the group announced on Tuesday.
The Aggies were named a national all-academic team for having a team grade-point average of 3.198. Yale earned the top spot nationally with a team GPA of 3.603 while Kansas was the top Big 12 honoree at 3.312. Overall, 81 Division I women's swimming & diving programs earned a team GPA at 3.0 or above.
Texas A&M ranked second in the nation in number of team members with cumulative 4.0 grade-point averages. A&M juniors Ella Doerge (Clive, Iowa.), Emily Neal (Plano), and Sarah Woods (Birmingham, Ala.) make up 1/8 of the total number of NCAA Division I female swimmers with 4.0 GPA's in the entire country. Doerge, Neal, and Woods are currently pursuing degrees in genetics, political science, and chemical engineering, respectively.
From an individual standpoint, six A&M swimmers were named national all-academic honorees for their accomplishments both in the pool and out. Neal and Woods were joined by juniors Alia Atkinson (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Melissa Hain (Kingwood) and seniors Kristen Heiss (Casper, Wyo.) and Julia Wilkinson (Stratford, Ont.) for both qualifying for the NCAA Championships and earning a yearly GPA over 3.5.
Five additional team members were honored as honorable mention national all-academic honorees for having recorded NCAA consideration times and achieving a 3.5 GPA. Those earning honorable mention awards are sophomore Ella Doerge, sophomore Megan Rains (Puyallup, Wash.), and diver Emily Watson (Frisco).