15 Eagles Named to CSCAA All-American Team
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman swim team had 15 athletes named All-Americans by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America on Wednesday.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman swim team had 15 athletes named All-Americans by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America on Wednesday.
All 15 of the recognized Eagles were invited to the NCAA Swimming and Diving National Championships which were cut short due to the spread of the coronavirus. Every athlete was honored in at least one event.
On the men's side, the honored athletes were Chad Andoljsek (Slovenia), Raphael de Paiva (Brazil), Matt George (Manchester, England), Caleb Howell (Easley, S.C.), Ivo Kunzle (Asuncion, Paraguay), Nikola Tadic (Croatia), Andrei Ungur (Romania) and Roberts Zemturis (Ventspils, Kurzeme).
For the women, Mary Northcutt (Hunstville, Ala.), Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.), Ruth Hullette (Newton, N.C.), CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark), Kailee Morgan (Greenville, S.C.) Laurel Sankowski (Indian Trail N.C.) and Manon Compagner (Balkbrug, Netherlands) received laurels as well.
The criteria for qualifying as an All-American was changed after the national championships were cut short so as to avoid penalizing athletes who were unable to participate through no fault of their own.
This isn't the first time the association adjusted All-America criteria. The first CSCAA All-America team was
published in 1924, thirteen years before the first men's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship. The first
women's All-America team was published in 1975, seven years prior to the first NCAA Women's Swimming and
Diving Championship. During much of that time, the team was selected by a panel of coaches. In 1985 the honor
was standardized around the NCAA Championships with the top eight finalists receiving first-team recognition and
consolation finalists being named Honorable Mention.
The 2020 selection criteria are as follows:
• Division I – All Relays Achieving 'A" Standards, individuals selected to the NCAA Championships, and
divers entered in uncontested events from the Zone C Diving Qualification meet are named All-American
• Division II – In contested events, the top eight finalists are named to the first team while the consolation
finalists were named Honorable Mention. In events that were not contested, individual and relay qualifiers
selected for the championship are named All-American
• Division III – Individuals and relays selected to the NCAA Championship are named All-American.
• NAIA - Individuals Finishing 1-8th and Relays Finishing 1-4th are named All-American. Relays finishing 5-
8th are named Honorable Mention.
• NJCAA – Individuals finishing 1-8th and relays finishing 1-4th are named All-American
• All – Teams must be current CSCAA Members
Greg Earhart, the Executive Director on the association's Board of Directors said, "Our sport is
replete with previously-unheralded swimmers and divers who have gone on not just to All-America honors, but
also to national championships and Olympic Team spots."
