STANFORD, Calif. — The Stanford women’s swimming and diving team was one of 172 Division I women’s squads to post a GPA over 3.00 during the spring, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America announced Tuesday. A record 406 schools were honored across NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA programs with the Scholar All-America Team designation.
The Cardinal ranked tied for 98th in the nation with a team GPA of 3.35, placing third among Pac-12 programs behind only UCLA (3.45) and Utah (3.40). Eastern Illinois sits on top of the list with a mark of 3.70.
Stanford excelled in the pool, as well, over the past academic year, finishing third at the NCAA Championships. Georgia (2nd, 3.49) and Louisville (6th, 3.50) were the lone teams to post a higher GPA of teams in the top 10.
Nearly 70% of all NCAA swimming and diving programs earned GPA’s of 3.0 or higher during the spring including 83% of all Division I schools. The announcement comes on the heels of a NCAA report on the Academic Progress Rate (APR) of Division I sports. That report showed that Division I men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams posted the second highest APR among those sports with fifty or more teams.
CSCAA executive director Joel Shinofield was understandably boastful about his sports’ success. “Academic scandals have clouded college sports the past year,” he explained, “but not only did we have a record number of teams, not one of our programs is subject to APR penalties. This shows that across the board, our coaches and teams’ are serving the mission of their universities and athletic departments.”
Swimming news courtesy of Stanford Swimming & Diving.
