Huskers Capture National Academic HonorsHuskers Capture National Academic Honors
Swimming and Diving

Huskers Capture National Academic Honors

The Nebraska women's swimming and diving team continued to climb in national prominence both in the water and in the classroom in 2016-17, after receiving multiple scholastic honors from the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) on Wednesday, June 21.

As a team, Nebraska earned a prestigious CSCAA Scholastic Team Award by carrying a 3.61 grade-point average during the spring semester of 2017. The Huskers, who are coached by Olympic gold medalist and CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame member Pablo Morales, were one of only three teams in the nation in 2016-17 to rank among the top 20 NCAA Division I schools in GPA and finish in the top 35 at the NCAA Championships. Nebraska was one of 21 Division I programs in the country to post a 3.6 or better GPA. Only five of those 21 programs scored a point at the 2017 NCAA Championships.

Nebraska's 3.61 team grade-point average was the best in the Big Ten - a conference that featured all 13 women's programs with a 3.29 or better GPA. Eleven of the Big Ten's women's swimming and diving teams scored at the NCAA Championships.

The Huskers were led by first-team CSCAA Scholastic All-America divers Anna Filipcic and Abigail Knapton. Filipcic, a senior from Omaha, Neb., captured her third consecutive first-team CSCAA Scholastic All-America honor. Knapton, a freshman from Omaha, Neb., earned the inaugural first-team CSCAA Scholastic All-America award of her career after opening her competitive career with first-team All-America honors on the platform at the NCAA Championships. Knapton's fourth-place finish on the platform marked the highest finish ever by a Nebraska women's diver in any event at the national meet.

Cassandra Brassard, Samantha Hedrick, Lindsay Helferich, Jacqueline Jeschke, Anna McDonald, Erin Oeltjen and Katrina Voge all added honorable-mention 2017 CSCAA Scholar All-America awards. 

The first-team CSCAA Scholastic All-America honors recognize student-athletes who have achieved a grade-point average of 3.50 or higher and have participated in their respective swimming and diving national championship meets. To earn honorable-mention CSCAA Scholastic All-America status, a student-athlete must achieve a 3.50 or better GPA while attaining an NCAA B qualifying standard during the season or participating in an NCAA regional or zone diving competition.

In addition to earning national academic honors, the Husker swimming and diving team also captured Nebraska's Herman Team GPA Award for the third consecutive year in 2017. The award was presented to the women's team with the highest cumulative GPA across all of Nebraska's varsity sports.

Women's Swimming and Diving Teams That Scored at the 2017 NCAA Championship and Ranked in the Top 20 Nationally in GPA

  1. Stanford (T13 GPA / 1 NCAA)
  2. Arizona State (T8 GPA / 29 NCAA)
  3. Nebraska (T17 GPA / 33 NCAA)
  4. Boise State (7 GPA / T36 NCAA)
  5. South Carolina (T2 GPA / 38 NCAA)

Nebraska's 2017 CSCAA Scholar All-Americans (9)

CSCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Top 20 GPA Teams

1. 3.77      Brown
T2. 3.71    Northern Iowa
T2 3.71     South Carolina
4. 3.70      Grand Canyon
5. 3.69      Bowling Green
6. 3.67      Iona
7. 3.66      Boise State
T8. 3.65    American
T8. 3.65    Arizona State
T8. 3.65    Ball State
T8. 3.65    Harvard
12. 3.64    Southern Methodist
T13. 3.63  Marshall
T13. 3.63  Stanford
T15. 3.62  Campbell
T15. 3.62  Loyola (Md.)
T17. 3.61  Nebraska
T17. 3.61  Seattle
T17. 3.61  Gardner-Webb
T20. 3.60  Liberty
T20. 3.60  William & Mary