Asheville Swimming Named CSCAA Scholar All-American team

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) has announced today that the UNC Asheville women's swimming program is a CSCAA Scholar All-American team for the fall 2015 semester. This marks the seventh consecutive semester the Bulldogs have been honored as an Scholar All-American team.

The CSCAA presents Team Scholar All-American awards to college and university swimming teams who have achieved a cumulative grade-point-average of 3.00 or higher for a semester.

"It is a real honor, and we're so happy that CSCAA has named us Academic All-Americans for the seventh straight semester. We have made this list every semester since our program has started and it is tradition that we hope to continue," head coach Elizabeth Lykins stated. "In general, swimmers tend to be very diligent students. Because they have such a rigorous schedule with classes, travel, practices and competition they have to be very organized and dedicated to their studies. It's nice to see that the same is true here at UNC Asheville."

"We recruit student-athletes that follow the same academic culture that we are building here. We want our incoming student-athletes to know that we have high academic standards that we want to maintain. Overall our athletes have really absorbed the importance that the coaching staff puts on academics. That's why our swimmers are here. Swimming is a great bonus to the education they're receiving here, don't get me wrong. However, they come to UNC Asheville to learn and get their degree."

"We really want to thank Ms. Rebecca Nelms, as she always does an amazing job of accommodating our student-athletes and proving them will all of the resources and information they need to be successful in the classroom. We can't thank her enough for all that she does for our student-athletes."

The Bulldogs finished the fall semester with a 3.28 team GPA, as they have now been honored in each semester of the program's existance.

Asheville added 12 freshmen to the roster this fall, and the Bulldogs have set numerous personal- and program-best marks this season. Saturday the Bulldogs host North Carolina A&T at 4:00 p.m. at Justice Center Pool.

Saturday's meet will be Senior Day for Galen Broido and Alessandra Troncoso, who are the first pair of four-year swimmers to compete for Asheville.

You can read the full CSCAA release at this link.