Nine Student-Athletes Named to Academic All-MAC Swim Team

UB swimmers and divers honored by conference for athletic and academic success

CLEVELAND, OH -The Mid-American Conference announced its 2009 Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Academic All-MAC teams on Wednesday afternoon. The women's team featured five members from Buffalo, while the men's team had four members named to the first team.

Sam Palma

Leading the women's team was lone senior Rachel Sorg, an exercise science major with a 3.34 GPA. Joining Sorg were teammates Meili Carpenter, who collected her second consecutive award with a 3.77 GPA as a chemistry major, Jessica Ballard, a fine arts major holding a 3.44 GPA, Sam Eckert, a social health science major with a 3.71 GPA, and Sam Palma, a 3.92 GPA history major. The women's team finished their season with an impressive 9-3 (4-3 MAC) record and placed sixth at the MAC Championship meet.

The men's team consisted of four juniors, Jordan Matthews, a mechanical engineering major with a 3.79 GPA, diver Michael McDowell, a 3.66 GPA undecided major, Andrew Tamchyna, an engineering physics major who holds a 3.85 GPA, and Connor Vander Zalm, a management major with a 3.75 GPA. The men's team finished the 2009 season with a 4-3 (1-2 MAC) record, their first time finishing above .500 since 2000. After an exciting second place finish at the MAC Championship meet, head coach Andy Bashor capped the season by being named MAC Swimming Coach of the Year.

Andrew Tamchyna

Buffalo divers, Carpenter and McDowell will be in action in the next couple weeks at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship Meet, being held in College Station, TX. The women's meet is this weekend, March 19-21 and the men's meet is the following weekend, March 26-28.

To be nominated for Academic All-MAC honors, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport. First-year students and junior college transfers in their first year of residence are not eligible for the award. Outstanding academic and athletic accomplishments from the current season only are considered. The Academic All-MAC team is voted on by the league's faculty athletic representatives. The total number of honorees is set for a specific sport or 33 percent of all nominees, whichever is greater.