Arizona State’s Patrick Sammon Wins Elite 90 Award For Highest GPA At DI Men’s NCAA Champs

2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

Arizona State senior Patrick Sammon is the recipient of the men’s Division I Elite 90 award, given to athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing at the final site of each other 90 NCAA championships. Sammon majors in real estate development and has a 4.0 GPA.

To be eligible for the Elite 90 award, athletes must have been a member of their team for at least two years and be an active participant at the championship competition. If there is a tie between multiple athletes, the one with the most completed credits wins the award.

Sammon is the second consecutive Arizona State swimmer to win the Elite 90 award after his teammate Tiago Behar did so last year. In 2024, ASU swept the award in swimmer, as Lindsay Looney won the women’s Division I swimming award that year. Sammon is the seventh ASU athlete to be awarded this honor and the third swimmer.

Past ASU Elite 90 Winners

  • 2009-10 – Andy Workman (Baseball), Finance, 3.903
  • 2012-13 – Bailey Wigness (Softball), Communication & Political Science, 4.00
  • 2013-14 – Ianeta Hutchinson (Water Polo), Psychology, 4.00
  • 2017-18 – Roberta Liti (Women’s Golf), Management/Business (Sports & Media Studies), 4.00
  • 2023-24 – Lindsay Looney (Women’s Swim and Dive), Family and Human Development, MS, 4.00
  • 2023-24 – Tiago Behar (Men’s Swim and Dive), Computer Science, 4.00
  • 2024-25 — Patrick Sammon (Men’s Swim and Dive), Real Estate Development, 4.00

On day 2 of the NCAA championships, Sammon finished 25th in the 50 free (19.15). He also clocked a 1:31.25 leadoff to help Arizona State finish ninth in the 800 free relay. He still has the 200 and 100 free left to swim.

ALL-TIME WINNERS, ELITE 90 AWARD, NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING

YEAR AWARD NAME DIVISION SCHOOL CONFERENCE SPORT MAJOR GPA
2010 Elite 90 Elliott, Andrew 1 The Ohio State University Big Ten Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Finance 4.00
2011 Elite 90 Farra, Justin 1 The Ohio State University Big Ten Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Political Science and Economics 3.874
2012 Elite 90 Sterling, Brent 1 University of Tennessee, Knoxville Southeastern Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Biological Sciences 3.98
2013 Elite 90 Sterling, Brent 1 University of Tennessee, Knoxville Southeastern Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Biological Sciences 3.98
2014 Elite 90 Stewart, Tynan 1 University of Georgia Southeastern Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving English 4.00
2015 Elite 90 Stewart, Tynan 1 University of Georgia Southeastern Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving English and Cognitive Science 4.00
2016 Elite 90 Lile, Nathan 1 Gardner-Webb University Big South Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Computer Science 4.00
2017 Elite 90 Ransford, Patrick 1 University of Michigan Big Ten Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Mechanical Engineering 4.00
2018 Elite 90 Ransford, Patrick 1 University of Michigan Big Ten Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Mechanical engineering 4.00
2019 Elite 90 Reilman, Joey 1 University of Tennessee, Knoxville Southeastern Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Industrial Engineering 3.94
2021 Elite 90 Oh, Micah 1 U.S. Naval Academy Patriot League Men’s Swimming and Diving Applied Math 4.00
2022 Elite 90 Knowles, Eric 1 NC State University Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Materials Science 4.00
2023 Elite 90 Maas, Derek 1 University of Alabama Southeastern Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Biology 4.00
2024 Elite 90 Behar, Tiago 1 Arizona State University Pac-12 Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Computer Science 4.00
2025 Elite 90 Patrick Sammon 1 Arizona State University Big 12 Conference  Men’s Swimming and Diving Real Estate Development 4.00

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Swmm
2 days ago

Yeah I don’t think it’s that hard for a school with a 90% acceptance rate

Swimfan
2 days ago

Such a deserving young man! He works tirelessly in and out of the pool! Congratulations Patrick!!!

Faulty Touch Pad
2 days ago

There should definitely be a factor of degree difficulty for this award. All those poor engineering majors will never see this, and I can only imagine their work load may be slightly more than “Real Estate Development”

Andrew
2 days ago

Sammmyyyyyy ily and ur cracked at swimming but we all know this a Mickey Mouse award ur at asu😭

Thomas The Tank Engine
2 days ago

I’m thinking it’s easier to get 4.0 GPA in ASU than in Stanford or Cal.

The Original Aquadog
Reply to  Thomas The Tank Engine
2 days ago

I doubt it, considering Stanford is routinely named among schools with the highest grade inflation.

The real estate development major at ASU is through the Carey School of Business, which is one of the top business schools in the US, and significantly harder to get into than simply being accepted to the university. The last winner was a computer science major, which isn’t an easy major anywhere.

ASU just provides a ton of academic support and resources to their athletes, and it shows in how often they have won this award.

Michael Andrew Wilson
2 days ago

Is there a conversion factor for ASU GPAs like short course meters?

JK

Admin
Reply to  Michael Andrew Wilson
2 days ago

comment image

200 free relay
2 days ago

nice!

Fans
2 days ago

No surprise—it’s ASU!

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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