Kansas Swimming and Diving Collects Scholar All-America Honors
List Link: 2015 Spring CSCAA Scholar All-America Teams (.pdf)
LAWRENCE, Kansas – Tuesday was an atypical day for Kansas swimming and diving head coach Clark Campbell, who spent a good chunk of his workday piecing together surf boards inside his office. The strange looks and curious inquiries had subsided by Wednesday morning and it was back to business as usual as the College Swim Coaches’ Association (CSCAA) announced the Jayhawks and two individual swimmers, Bryce Hinde and Lydia Pocisk, have earned Scholar All-America recognition.
Academic excellence has become the norm for the Jayhawks – monotonous perhaps to casual fans after 26 straight semesters with a team grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better, but just as exciting to a coach like Campbell who thrives on the details and obsesses over ways to help his student-athletes achieve more – like using surf boards as training aids.
Kansas posted the second-highest team GPA in the department (3.35) for the spring semester and was one of 406 collegiate swimming and diving programs and more than 600 teams honored by the CSCAA Tuesday. Hinde, who completed her junior year, and Pocisk, who finished her freshman year, were named CSCAA Scholar All-America Honorable Mention Wednesday.
Kansas joined nearly 70 percent of all NCAA swimming and diving programs with GPAs of 3.0 or higher during the spring semester – the qualifying standard for CSCAA recognition – according to data released by the organization.
To be selected to the CSCAA Scholar All-America Team, swimmers and divers must have achieved a grade point average of 3.50 or higher and have participated in their respective NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Honorable Mention selections have similarly achieved a GPA of 3.50 and achieved a “B” time standard or competed at their respective qualifying meets.
Hinde, from Fulton, Kansas, broke KU’s school record in the 100-yard breaststroke at the Big 12 Championships with a time of 1:01.98 to meet the NCAA “B” standard. It was one of two top-eight individual performances for the exercise science major at the league meet. Hinde swam a season-best time in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:16.54) and finished in the top-25 at the USA Winter National Meet in the 100-yard breaststroke in December.
Pocisk, from Dayton, Ohio, placed among the top-10 in three events at the 2015 Big 12 Championships and met the NCAA “B” standard in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke at the meet. A pre-medicine major, Pocisk’s times of 1:02.21 (100 breast) and 2:14.98 (200 breast) rank third and second, respectively, on the Kansas swimming all-time charts. Pocisk also represented Kansas at the USA Winter Nationals in December.
In June, Pocisk was one of eight swimmers and divers among 51 total Jayhawk freshmen honored by the Big 12 Conference as members of the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team. Recently, Kansas student-athletes have also contributed to favorable Academic Progress Rate (APR) numbers released by the NCAA that show all Jayhawk programs were in good standing above 930, based on the latest data from the 2013-14 class and last year’s school record 85 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and 82 percent single-year GSR.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
