Alabama’s Bams Leads Division I At-Large Academic All-America Teams

Alabama swimmer Laurent Bams was named as the Google Cloud Division I Men’s At-Large Academic All-American of the Year, leading 15 men’s swimmers and divers among 47 first, second and third team honorees.

Seven men, including Bams, were tabbed as first teamers, while four earned second team acclaim and four were named to the third team.

Bams and Alabama teammate Robert Howard were repeat first team selections. North Carolina State’s Andreas Vazaios garnered second team honors for the second straight year.

Joining Bams and Howard on the first team were Kentucky’s Bowen Anderson, Missouri’s Daniel Hein, LSU’s Alarii Levreault-Lopez, Navy’s Zach Piedt and Michigan State’s Scott Piper.

Bams, Hein, Howard, Piper, Levrault-Lopez (4.04), second teamers Grant House (Arizona State), Wyatt Rumrill (South Dakota State) and Shane Vyskocil (Bryant) and third teamers Coley Sullivan (Brown) and Eric Knowles (N.C. State) were among 27 men with perfect 4.00 or higher GPAs.

Bams finished 12th in the 100 breast and was part of Alabama’s NCAA champion 200 medley relay and ninth place 400 medley relay and 400 free relay teams at the NCAA Championships.

Howard, the 2019 SEC Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year, finished third in the 50 free, fifth in the 100 free and 19th in the 200 free and  was a member of the title winning 200 free relay and 200 medley relay, and ninth place 400 medley relay and 400 free relay teams at the NCAA Championships. He also was the SEC champion in the 50 free and 100 free and as part of Alabama’s SEC champion 200 medley relay, 200 free relay and 400 free relay teams.

Hein finished 19th in the 200 back and 22nd in the 100 back and was a member of Mizzou’s seventh place 400 medley relay and 15th place 200 medley relay at the NCAA Championships.

Piedt was a first team All-Patriot League selection after posting runnerup finishes in the 100 fly and 100 free and a third place effort in the 50 free at the conference championships.

Piper set the MSU school record in the 200 IM (1:46.42) and 200 fly (1:42.73)at the Big Ten Championships.

On the women’s side, 11 swimmers and divers were honored across the three Academic All-America teams.

Kentucky’s Asia Seidt and LSU’s Kate Zimmer were tabbed for first team honors, with Seidt moving up from the third team a year ago. Seven swimmers and divers made the second team, including 2018 first team selection Ella Eastin from Stanford and 2018 second teamer Alicia Finnigan from Liberty. Two more swimmers rounded out the third team.

Seidt, Zimmer (4.06), second teamers Courtney Aycock (Michigan State), Finnigan, Lindsay Helferich (Nebraska) and Mikaela Lujan (South Carolina) and third teamer Ayla Bonniwell (Florida State) among 32 women with 4.00 or higher GPAs.

Seidt, a three-time SEC champion in the 200 backstroke, finished third in the event at the NCAA Championships as well as fifth in the 200 IM and 100 back. She also was part of UK’s 10th place 800 free relay, 15th place 400 medley relay and 15th place 400 free relay teams at the NCAAs.

Eastin was the national champion in the 400 IM and runnerup in the 200 IM and 200 fly at the NCAA Championships. She also was part of the NCAA champion 800 free relay, third place 400 free relay and sixth place 400 medley relay.

Google Cloud Academic All-America Division I At-Large Teams

MEN’S TEAM

Google Cloud Academic All-America® of the Year: Laurent Bams, University of Alabama

WOMEN’S TEAM

Google Cloud Academic All-America® of the Year: Makenzie Fischer, Stanford University