Swimming & Diving Earns Academic All-America Status
Jul 7, 2005 | Women's Swimming and Diving
July 7, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The 2004-05 Tulane University women's swimming and diving team earned Academic All-America status after posting a team 3.30 grade point average, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America announced Thursday.
The academic honor comes four months after the Green Wave won the 2005 Conference USA Swimming & Diving Championship in just their second season under head coach Daniella Irle. Tulane clinched the title with a 2.24-second victory over defending champ TCU in the 400 free relay, the final event of the tournament, to win the title by just 9.5 points over the Horned Frogs.
"This has been a great year for the Tulane Swimming & Diving program," Irle said. "To be a second-year program and win the conference championship is a tremendous accomplishment, and then to earn academic All-America honors as a team is even more impressive, in my opinion.
"This team has truly lived up to the term `student-athlete.' They worked extremely hard all year long to accomplish our athletic goals, but they far exceeded anything they could have done in the pool with their performance in the classroom."
The Green Wave rank 17th among all NCAA Division I programs in GPA, and are joined in the Top 25 by fellow Conference USA squad SMU, which ranks 22nd with a 3.26 GPA. Sixteen of the 22 members of the Tulane team posted at least a 3.0 GPA, including nine with a mark of 3.5 or better.
Sophomore Elizabeth Carey and freshman Tiffany Brown lead the way for the Green Wave with 4.00 GPAs while Samantha Berdine, Katherine McCoy, Devlyn Quinn, Jamie Shufflebarger, Meggie Underwood, Amanda Williams and Sarah Zomchick all had at least 3.5s.
Rounding out the Tulane swimming and diving student-athletes with at least a 3.0 GPA are Cara Davidoff, Sarah Dicharry, Taylor Emerson, Leeann Laing, Nellie Langeland, Maureen Quinn and Nicole Taheri.
The academic honor is the latest in a long list of recognitions garnered by the 2004-05 Tulane Swimming & Diving program. Irle was named C-USA Swimming Coach of the Year, freshman Danielle Carrillo advanced to compete in the NCAA Zone B Championships and nine individuals earned All-Conference USA honors.
Players Mentioned
