Swimming & Diving Named Scholar All-America Team
Jul 28, 2011 | Women's Swimming and Diving
July 28, 2011
NEW ORLEANS - Following the 2010-11 academic year which saw the Tulane University women's swimming and diving team post a cumulative 3.59 grade point average, the Green Wave program was named a Scholar All-America Team by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America on Thursday.
The Wave posted the second-highest team GPA of any Division I team last season, finishing tied with the University of Evansville and Clemson University. Tulane finished just one-one hundredth of a point away from the top spot nationally as Ball State tallied a 3.6 GPA.
In addition, rising junior Kayla Alf-Huynh claimed a spot on the CSCAA Scholar All-America honorable-mention listings. The team award is given each season to programs achieving a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher while the individual honor is awarded to student-athletes with a 3.5 GPA or better and have achieved at least a "B" time standard in their respective national championship.
"This is a tremendous honor for our program and is perhaps our proudest achievement to date," Tulane head swimming and diving coach Lena Guarriello said. "After just completing our second season back in action, this is something that we can really hang our hat on.
"When I was hired to be the head coach here at Tulane three years ago, we made it a point to build the program the right way. Part of the plan was to bring in high-character student-athletes who excelled not only in the pool but in the classroom as well. This is just proof that we are doing things the right way."
Tulane is one of just three Conference USA programs to claim Scholar All-America Team recognition, joining Rice (3.45), East Carolina (3.43) and SMU (3.42). The Green Wave are also one of just two Louisiana schools to earn a spot on the list as LSU posted a 3.05 GPA during the 2010-11 school year.
All told, 19 members of the Tulane swimming and diving team posted GPAs of at least 3.25 and claimed C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll recognition: Kristin Ates, Gisele Calderon, Cari Caprio, Erin Cunningham, Jillian Daleiden, Sara Eicher, Hagar Elgendy, Allie Evans, Kristine Gu, Bolton Harris, Rebekah Harris, Kylie Kastes, Shelby Kiser, Emily Needham, Lauren Pfohl, Rachel Ranson, Grace Tarka, Hayley Tilton and Elizabeth Whitaker.
Calderon, Caprio, Gu, Kiser and Tilton earned C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal honors after achieving cumulative GPAs of 3.75 or better.
Alf-Huynh, meanwhile, posted a 3.53 grade point average and made the list after earning second-team All C-USA honors in the 50 free and 100 back, claiming third-team all-league recognition in the 100 back and recording NCAA B Cuts in the 50 free and 100 back.
The native of Portland, Ore., participated in all 10 events last season as a sophomore, including swimming leadoff for the 200 medley relay team which set a school record at the 2011 C-USA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships. Alf-Huynh was named C-USA Swimmer of the Week on Feb. 10 after posting a pair of individual wins and spearheading a relay victory in Tulane's come-from-behind win at Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale.
For the year, she had top times of 22.97 in the 50 free, 50.26 in the 100 free, 54.70 in the 100 back and 2:10.21 in the 200 IM while helping Tulane's relay teams post high-water marks of 1:33.94 in the 200 free relay, 3:25.64 in the 400 free relay, 7:29.39 in the 800 free relay, 12:43.36 in the 200 medley relay and 3:48.92 in the 400 medley relay.
"Kayla has been a leader for us since she arrived on campus two years ago and this is a well-deserved honor for her," Guarriello said. "She obviously has been a vital part of our team's success to date and we will continue to count on her over the next two years. She epitomizes the type of student-athlete we want to recruit here at Tulane - the ones that are leaders in their respective events and maintains that high level of performance when it comes to academics."
Last season, Tulane finished fifth at the 2011 C-USA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, showing a 36.5-point improvement from the previous season. The Green Wave will return 19 letterwinners from a year ago and add the talents of eight true freshmen for the 2011-12 season.
Players Mentioned
