Swimming & diving teams earn post-season honors
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Swimming and Diving teams received recognition from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) for outstanding academic achievements during the spring 2015 semester. The Stags earned a 3.38 team GPA and the Athenas posted a 3.36 GPA.
The Stags finished fifth at the 2015 NCAA Division III Championships and only one team (Williams College) finished ahead of CMS in both the national meet standings and in overall GPA. The Athenas placed 16th at the 2015 NCAA Championships and had the highest academic/athletic ranking in the West Region.
CSCAA Team All-America Release
Individually, 11 CMS swimmers and divers were named to the CSCAA Scholar All-American teams. Student-athletes must achieve a 3.50 or better semester GPA. To qualify for the First Team, the student-athlete must qualify for and participate in the NCAA D-III Swimming and Diving Championships. To qualify for Honorable Mention Scholar All-American, the student-athlete must have achieved an NCAA "B" (provisional) cut during the season and meet the GPA requirement.
Sophomore Graham Spurzem (CMC), juniors Zach Alleva (CMC) and Alex Poltash (CMC), and three recent graduates in Patrick Shultz (CMC '15), James Stevick (CMC '15), and Cameron Whiting (CMC '15) earned First Team CSCAA Scholar All-American designation. Freshmen Lauren Rosenberger (CMC) and Brace Young (CMC), sophomore Courtney Chan (CMC), junior Matthew Valentine (HMC) and graduate Alex Mendoza (CMC '15) were named to the Honorable Mention Team.
CSCAA Individual Scholar All-America Release
Beyond the CSCAA Scholar All-American accolades, CMS swimming and diving earned several other post-season academic honors. The SCIAC recognized 11 Athenas and 12 Stags on the SCIAC All-Academic Team for posting a greater than 3.40 cumulative GPA and completing more than two full semesters at CMC, HMC or Scripps College before the 2015 SCIAC Championships.
The Athenas included were sophomores Cassie Burgess (HMC), Mary Lynn Clark (SCR), Stephanie Doi (CMC), Kelly Ngo (CMC), and Renee Lundgren (CMC), junior Maya Kale (CMC) and recent graduates MacKenzie Leake (SCR '15), Kaela Nurmi (SCR '15), Sherry Zhang (HMC '15), Sloan Caldwell (CMC '15), and Louisa Dunwiddie (CMC '15),
The SCIAC All-Academic Stags were Alleva, Shultz, Spurzem, Stevick, Valentine, Whiting, sophomores Jonah Breslow (CMC) and Matthew Williams (CMC), and graduates Brian Key (CMC '15), Martin Sartorius (CMC '15), Timothy Storer (CMC '15), Brett Berger (HMC '15),
Seven CMS swimmers/divers etched their names on the CMS "Wall of Fame" for earning individual First Team All-SCIAC honors during their careers and graduating with at least a 3.0 GPA: Berger, Dunwiddie, Mendoza, Shultz, Stevick, Whiting and LillyBelle Deer (CMC '15),
Additionally, Berger won the CMS Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award for being the senior with the highest GPA in the graduating class.
The academic honors help celebrate an excellent year for the CMS Stags and Athenas. Both squads earned SCIAC Championships with matching 8-0 conference dual meet records and SCIAC championship meet titles. The CMS coaching staff won the inaugural "SCIAC Men's Coach of the Year" award. The conference meet wins helped CMS earn the 2014-15 SCIAC men's, women's and combined All-Sports trophies.
At the national level, the Stags placed 5th at the 2015 NCAA D-III Swimming and Diving Championships in Texas and the Athenas placed 16th at the meet. Sixteen CMS swimmers and divers qualified for Nationals and all 16 earned All-American or Honorable Mention All-American honors. The swim/dive teams' national points helped the CMS Athletic program place 11th in the Division III Learfield Director's Cup standings, the highest among schools in the West Region.
All told, CMS set varsity records 21 times during the 2014-15 season. Head Coach Charlie Griffiths was awarded the American Swimming Coaches Association "Certificate of Excellence" for the 13th time in his 14 years at the helm of the CMS program.
At the second annual CMSPYs, CMS' student-voted awards banquet, several swimming/diving team members were honored. Ngo won the Female Athlete and Sophomore of the Year Award. Sophomore Maia Presti (SCR) won the Comeback Athlete Award. Stevick walked away with the Male Athlete of the Year Award and the swim/dive Class of 2015 earned the Championship Performance of the Year, after completing their careers with a 62-0 SCIAC dual meet record and 8 team championships.
At the CMS swimming and diving team's awards banquet, the following student-athletes were honored:
Stags
Outstanding Swimmer – Alex Poltash
Outstanding Diver – James Stevick
Rookie of the Year – Grant Murray (HMC)
Quantum Leap – Mike Adams (HMC)
Shoenfeld (Most Inspirational) – Marc Blumberg (CMC '15)
Athenas
Outstanding Swimmer – Kelly Ngo
Outstanding Diver – Maia Presti
Rookie of the Year – Lorea Gwo
Quantum Leap – Stephanie Doi
Critchell (Most Inspirational) – LillyBelle Deer
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