Edit: a previous version of this article stated that Minnesota got a 3.86, which was the number released by the CSCAA. An Academic adviser for Minnesota confirms that it was a 3.386.
The College Swim Coaches Association (CSCAA) has announced their 2014 Spring Scholar All-America Team Awards, recognizing the women’s programs who achieved an average GPA of 3.0 or greater (on a 4.0 scale) in the most recent semester, and it is Lars Joregnsen’s Kentucky team who leads the way.
Their impressive 3.72 GPA, confirmed by head coach Lars Jorgensen, means that of the 24 swimmers listed on Kentucky’s roster for the 2013-2014 season, if they averaged about 4.5 classes each, they got about 93 A’s and just 15 B’s. That’s an impressive ratio.
The only team to finish both semesters in the top 5 GPA’s in the country is the Alabama women, who had the leading GPA (3.60) in the fall and the 3rd-ranked GPA (3.65) in the spring. That’s noteworthy, because often times academic advisers for college athletics (both in swimming and outside of swimming) will unbalance classes between semesters to help athletes better manage their academic versus athletic loads. For example, many programs will have swimmers take their more challenging classes in the fall because there is significantly more class time missed in the spring for championship meets. Excelling academically in both semesters, therefore, shows year-round dedication to the academic cause.
As for the teams that really strutted in both the classroom and the pool, here are those teams that finished in the top 10 at the 2014 NCAA Championships and also had a team GPA above 3.0:
- Georgia (3.37, #63)
- Stanford (3.27, #106)
- Cal (3.27, #106)
- Texas A&M (3.22, #121)
- USC (3.26, #110)
- Florida (3.29, #101)
- Tennessee (3.44, #40)
- Arizona (3.41, #48)
- Texas (3.18, #131)
- Minnesota (3.38, #61)
In all, the top 25 teams from the 2014 NCAA Championships achieved over a 3.0 GPA, as did 150 out of 198 women’s Division I programs. Swimmers are setting the academic bar high.
| Divison | Gender | GPA | Institution | Coach |
| 1 | Women | 3.72 | Kentucky | Lars Jorgensen |
| 1 | Women | 3.68 | Arkansas, Little Rock | Amy Burgess |
| 1 | Women | 3.65 | Alabama | Dennis Pursley |
| 1 | Women | 3.61 | New Mexico | Kunio Kono |
| 1 | Women | 3.59 | Illinois State | Steve Paska |
| 1 | Women | 3.59 | UNLV | Jim Reitz |
| 1 | Women | 3.58 | Fairfield | William Farley |
| 1 | Women | 3.58 | Northern Arizona | Andy Johns |
| 1 | Women | 3.58 | Southern Illinois | Rick Walker |
| 1 | Women | 3.57 | Northern Colorado | Kelly McClanahan |
| 1 | Women | 3.55 | North Texas | Brendon Bray |
| 1 | Women | 3.53 | Arkansas | Sean Schimmel |
| 1 | Women | 3.53 | Ball State | Kristy Castillo |
| 1 | Women | 3.53 | Tulane | Katie Robinson |
| 1 | Women | 3.52 | American | Mark Davin |
| 1 | Women | 3.51 | New Hampshire | Josh Willman |
| 1 | Women | 3.51 | Penn State | Tim Murphy |
| 1 | Women | 3.51 | Toledo | Chris Peters |
| 1 | Women | 3.50 | Yale | Jim Henry |
| 1 | Women | 3.49 | Bowling Green | Petra Martin |
| 1 | Women | 3.49 | Evansville | Rickey Perkins |
| 1 | Women | 3.49 | Grand Canyon | Steve Schaffer |
| 1 | Women | 3.48 | Boise State | Kristin Hill |
| 1 | Women | 3.48 | Butler | Maurice Stewart |
| 1 | Women | 3.48 | Dartmouth | Jim Wilson |
| 1 | Women | 3.48 | Gardner-Webb | Mike Simpson |
| 1 | Women | 3.47 | Clemson | L. Hasselbach Adams |
| 1 | Women | 3.47 | Drexel | Adam Braun |
| 1 | Women | 3.47 | Illinois | Sue Novitsky |
| 1 | Women | 3.47 | Iona | Nick Cavataro |
| 1 | Women | 3.47 | Northern Iowa | Doug Humphrey |
| 1 | Women | 3.47 | South Dakota State | Brad Erickson |
| 1 | Women | 3.47 | Villanova | Rick Simpson |
| 1 | Women | 3.46 | George Washington | Dan Rhinehart |
| 1 | Women | 3.46 | Miami (OH) | Mark Davis |
| 1 | Women | 3.46 | West Virginia | Victor Riggs |
| 1 | Women | 3.45 | Duke | Dan Colella |
| 1 | Women | 3.45 | Georgetown | James Holder |
| 1 | Women | 3.45 | Towson | Patrick Mead |
| 1 | Women | 3.44 | Harvard | S. Wriede-Morawski |
| 1 | Women | 3.44 | Tennessee | Matt Kredich |
| 1 | Women | 3.43 | Denver | Brian Schrader |
| 1 | Women | 3.43 | North Dakota | Christopher Maiello |
| 1 | Women | 3.43 | Rice | Seth Huston |
| 1 | Women | 3.43 | Wisconsin | Whitney Hite |
| 1 | Women | 3.42 | Brown | Peter Brown |
| 1 | Women | 3.42 | Texas Christian | Richard Sybesma |
| 1 | Women | 3.41 | Arizona | Rick DeMont |
| 1 | Women | 3.40 | Bucknell | Dan Schinnerer |
| 1 | Women | 3.40 | U MASS, Amherst | Bob Newcomb |
| 1 | Women | 3.40 | Michigan State | Matt Gianiodis |
| 1 | Women | 3.40 | Purdue | John Klinge |
| 1 | Women | 3.40 | Siena | Paul Kueterman |
| 1 | Women | 3.40 | Southern Methodist | Steve Collins |
| 1 | Women | 3.40 | William and Mary | Matt Crispino |
| 1 | Women | 3.39 | Davidson | John Young |
| 1 | Women | 3.39 | Eastern Michigan | Peter Linn |
| 1 | Women | 3.39 | IUPUI | Matt Bos |
| 1 | Women | 3.39 | Seton Hall | Ron Farina |
| 1 | Women | 3.39 | Xavier | Brent MacDonald |
| 1 | Women | 3.38 | Minnesota | Kelly Kremer |
| 1 | Women | 3.38 | Cornell | Joe Lucia |
| 1 | Women | 3.38 | Washington State | Tom Jager |
| 1 | Women | 3.37 | Arizona State | Dorsey Tierney-Walker |
| 1 | Women | 3.37 | Georgia | Harvey Humphries |
| 1 | Women | 3.37 | New Mexico State | Richard Pratt |
| 1 | Women | 3.37 | Oakland | Pete Hovland |
| 1 | Women | 3.37 | Pittsburgh | Chuck Knoles |
| 1 | Women | 3.37 | Rider | Stephen Fletcher |
| 1 | Women | 3.37 | Virginia | Augie Busch |
| 1 | Women | 3.36 | Akron | Brian Peresie |
| 1 | Women | 3.36 | Boston | Thomas Groden |
| 1 | Women | 3.36 | Marist | Larry Van Wagner |
| 1 | Women | 3.36 | Missouri | Greg Rhodenbaugh |
| 1 | Women | 3.36 | Niagara | Ben Nigro |
| 1 | Women | 3.36 | Richmond | Matthew Barany |
| 1 | Women | 3.36 | Virginia Tech | Ned Skinner |
| 1 | Women | 3.35 | Georgia Southern | Nate Kellogg |
| 1 | Women | 3.35 | La Salle | Matthew Nunnally |
| 1 | Women | 3.35 | Marshall | Bill Tramel |
| 1 | Women | 3.35 | UMBC | Chad Cradock |
| 1 | Women | 3.34 | Mount St. Mary’s | Neil Yost |
| 1 | Women | 3.34 | Ohio State | Bill Dorenkott |
| 1 | Women | 3.34 | Providence | John O’Neill |
| 1 | Women | 3.34 | Seattle | Craig Nisgor |
| 1 | Women | 3.34 | Vermont | Gerry Cournoyer |
| 1 | Women | 3.34 | Western Kentucky | Bruce Marchionda |
| 1 | Women | 3.33 | Campbell | Pascal Molinard |
| 1 | Women | 3.32 | Florida Gulf Coast | Neal Studd |
| 1 | Women | 3.32 | Loyola Marymount | Bonnie Adair |
| 1 | Women | 3.32 | Miami (FL) | Andy Kershaw |
| 1 | Women | 3.32 | Missouri State | Dave Collins |
| 1 | Women | 3.32 | Rhode Island | Michael Westkott |
| 1 | Women | 3.32 | Rutgers | Phil Spiniello |
| 1 | Women | 3.32 | San Jose State | Sage Hopkins |
| 1 | Women | 3.31 | Kansas | Clark Campbell |
| 1 | Women | 3.31 | Lafayette | James Dailey |
| 1 | Women | 3.31 | Northwestern | Jimmy Tierney |
| 1 | Women | 3.30 | Fresno State | Jeanne Fleck |
| 1 | Women | 3.30 | Illinois at Chicago | Susan Bromberg |
| 1 | Women | 3.30 | Saint Francis (PA) | Rory Coleman |
| 1 | Women | 3.29 | Canisius | Scott Vanderzell |
| 1 | Women | 3.29 | East Carolina | Rick Kobe |
| 1 | Women | 3.29 | Florida | Gregg Troy |
| 1 | Women | 3.29 | Fordham | Stephen Potsklan |
| 1 | Women | 3.28 | Iowa | Marc Long |
| 1 | Women | 3.27 | California | Teri McKeever |
| 1 | Women | 3.27 | Loyola (MD) | Brian Loeffler |
| 1 | Women | 3.27 | South Dakota | Jason Mahowald |
| 1 | Women | 3.27 | Stanford | Gregory Meehan |
| 1 | Women | 3.26 | Princeton | Susan Teeter |
| 1 | Women | 3.26 | Univ. of San Diego | Mike Keeler |
| 1 | Women | 3.26 | Southern California | Dave Salo |
| 1 | Women | 3.26 | Utah | Joe Dykstra |
| 1 | Women | 3.25 | Georgia Tech | Courtney Hart |
| 1 | Women | 3.25 | Indiana | Ray Looze |
| 1 | Women | 3.23 | Hawaii | Victor Wales |
| 1 | Women | 3.23 | Michigan | Mike Bottom |
| 1 | Women | 3.23 | NC State | Braden Holloway |
| Women | 3.23 | Pepperdine | Nick Rodionoff | |
| 1 | Women | 3.22 | Brigham Young | John Brooks |
| 1 | Women | 3.22 | Connecticut | Bob Goldberg |
| 1 | Women | 3.22 | Texas A&M | Steve Bultman |
| 1 | Women | 3.21 | Central Connecticut | Bill Ball |
| 1 | Women | 3.21 | Idaho | Mark Sowa |
| 1 | Women | 3.21 | James Madison | Dane Pedersen |
| 1 | Women | 3.21 | Penn | Michael Schnur |
| 1 | Women | 3.20 | Houston | Rich Murphy |
| 1 | Women | 3.20 | Louisville | Arthur Albiero |
| 1 | Women | 3.20 | Notre Dame | Brian Barnes |
| 1 | Women | 3.19 | UCLA | Cyndi Gallagher |
| 1 | Women | 3.18 | Iowa State | Duane Sorenson |
| 1 | Women | 3.18 | Texas | Carol Capitani |
| 1 | Women | 3.17 | North Carolina | Rich DeSelm |
| 1 | Women | 3.16 | Duquesne | David Sheets |
| 1 | Women | 3.16 | San Diego State | Mike Shrader |
| 1 | Women | 3.16 | Vanderbilt | Jeremy Organ |
| 1 | Women | 3.15 | Auburn | Brett Hawke |
| 1 | Women | 3.14 | Cleveland State | Paul Graham |
| 1 | Women | 3.14 | Manhattan | Walter Olsewski |
| 1 | Women | 3.13 | UC Santa Barbara | Gregg Wilson |
| 1 | Women | 3.13 | Florida International | Randy Horner |
| 1 | Women | 3.13 | Oregon State | Larry Liebowitz |
| 1 | Women | 3.12 | Buffalo | Andy Bashor |
| 1 | Women | 3.12 | UNC, Asheville | Elizabeth Lykins |
| 1 | Women | 3.11 | Wyoming | Tom Johnson |
| 1 | Women | 3.09 | Liberty | Jake Shellenberger |
| 1 | Women | 3.09 | Old Dominion | Carol Withus |
| 1 | Women | 3.04 | UC Davis | Barbara Jahn |
| 1 | Women | 3.03 | Colorado State | C. Woodard |