Swimming and Diving Named To CSCAA Academic All-American Team

July 24, 2006

Clemson, SC- The Clemson Swimming and Diving teams were both rewarded for their hard work in the classroom as the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Academic All-American awards were handed out. The Lady Tigers finished the 2005-06 season with a cumulative 3.42 team GPA. This was the 20th highest GPA of all the Division I teams, and the best in the ACC. This is the second year in a row that the Lady Tiger program has finished with one of the top 20 GPA’s in the nation.

The women were led by freshman standout Michelle Parkhurst. After breaking two school records in the pool, she was named to the Individual Academic All-American team. The criteria for the award is that a student-athlete must qualify to participate at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, have a GPA of 3.5 or higher, and be enrolled as a full-time student with at least 12 semester hours per term. Parkhurst is the only Tiger to earn the honor after she recorded a 3.80 GPA in sociology.

Freshman Rachel Regone (4.0, Pre-professional Health Studies) and Cassy LaRussa (3.62, Undeclared) joined seniors Ashley Shafer (3.71, Nursing) and Jess Watcke (3.52, PRTM) on the Honorable Mention Academic All-American list.

The men’s team was also honored by the CSCAA. They posted a team GPA of 2.95, the 55th best cumulative score in the nation. Though the squad didn’t have any individual Academic All-Americans, they did place two members on the President’s list, and four others on the Dean’s list for the fall semester.