Women's swim team earns No. 1 GPA rank in Division III

The Connecticut College women's swim team has the highest grade point average among Division III swim teams at 3.78, the Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) announced Wednesday.

Ten Camel women also earned CSCAA Scholar All-American honors, the most from any team in Division III.

Senior captain Valerie Urban, who swam to an All-American finish in the 1,650 freestyle competition in March was a motivating force for her teammates in and out of the pool. She was named a Winthrop Scholar, Connecticut College's highest undergraduate academic honor.

"We were able to succeed in both academics and athletics this past year by always supporting each other in and out of the pool," said Urban, a NESCAC nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year. "We found success by sticking by each other through the hard work and by remembering to have fun being a part of such an amazing team."

Connecticut College has a strong history of academic excellence among athletes. This year, 57 scholar-athletes were named to the NESCAC Spring All-Academic Team.

Swimming Coach Marc Benvenuti, a five-time NESCAC Coach of the Year now in his 15th year, was equally proud.

"Our women matched our highest finishes at NESCACs and NCAAs by posting our best team GPA. It shows that you can be a great student and a great athlete at Conn," he said.

The women finished a program best: No. 3 at the NESCAC meet and No. 10 at the NCAA meet in Shenandoah, Texas, in March with 10 individual All-American swims. This included the NCAA champion in the 200 breaststroke, Mary Erb '20. The men's team, fourth in the conference, earned a grade point ranking of No. 16 in Division III, according to CSCAA.

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June 28, 2017