For the second consecutive year, senior swimmer Chris Coley () has earned a spot on the ESPN The Magazine At-Large Academic All-District First Team, making him eligible to repeat as an Academic All-American, announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Coley finished his collegiate career with another solid performance at the 2008 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships. He finished second in the 100 butterfly by just 33/100ths of a second with a time of 48.19 seconds, his best time of the year. He was also part of the 400 medley relay quartet that finished second at the national meet in 3:18.80.
The 2006 national champion in the 100 butterfly, Coley earned nine All-America honors during his career, the most of any swimmer during the school’s Division II era. Last year Coley earned Second Team Academic All-America honors, one of five student-athletes to receive Academic All-America honors during the 2006-07 academic year.
With the cross country/track and field teams yet to be determined, Seattle University now has seven First Team Academic All-District honorees in 2007-08: Coley, soccer players Kate Edstrom (Portland, Ore.), John Fishbaugher (Redmond, Wash.), Chris Hodges (Redmond, Wash.), Mickey Pelland (Seattle, Wash.), and Ashley Porter (Redmond, Wash.), and softball player Jane Purdy (Missoula, Mont.). Porter earned Second Team Academic All-America recognition for the second straight year, while Purdy will find out if she is an Academic All-American on May 28.
The Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, the College Sports Information Directors of America; a 2,000-member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the and .
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 15,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.