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AU Swimming & Diving Tops All Programs Academically
Leads American Athletics to new heights with Fall GPA

February 20, 2003

Seth Bell	Lindsay Metcalfe

WASHINGTON -- The American University athletic department announced today that both the AU Men’s and Women’s swimming and diving teams earned the highest grade point-average (GPA) of all sports this past fall. It marks the first time in modern AU history that counterpart female and male athletic teams have achieved the highest team GPAs at the same time. The men’s team GPA was 3.38 - it’s highest in either semester - while the women averaged a 3.37, reaching the best fall marks ever attained by either team.

The swimming and diving teams helped the combined grade-point average (GPA) of all teams in the fall of 2002 to the highest ever achieved with a 3.13 since tracking began in the 1980s.

The men’s team was led by four individuals that recently achieved the fall Department of Athletics Academic top 10% list (GPAs over 3.81); senior Seth Bell, junior Ethan Bassett (last year’s Patriot League Academic Athlete of the Year), Erwan Jeffroy and freshman Kyle Taylor. Those four were joined by seven others in obtaining individual GPA’s over 3.0, which will send each of them to this semester's Team Academic Dinner.

The women’s team had two individuals achieve the fall Department of Athletics Academic top 10% list (GPAs over 3.81); senior captain Elizabeth West and sophomore Lindsay Metcalfe. Those women were joined by 11 others in obtaining individual GPA’s over 3.0 which will send each of them to this semesters Team Academic Dinner.

“I am extremely proud of our team,” said Head Coach Mark Davin. “We’ve swum very well this fall and to achieve this level of academic excellence at the same time is an example of how strong we are as a program. Within the next month we will know how our team GPAs place us in relation to all the other Division I programs in the country and we are certainly looking forward to that.”

Both the Men’s and Women’s swimming and diving teams have received Awards of Excellence from the CSCAA every semester since Coach Davin’s arrival eight years ago.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, recently completed its inaugural year of membership in the Patriot League. The University had an extremely successful year to date on respective fields of play, capturing league championships in men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, American University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.