Swimming and Diving Place Two on Academic All-American Team
6/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The University of Alabama swimming and diving team placed two athletes on the 2004-05 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Men's At-Large Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Senior diver Stewart Smith and sophomore breaststroker Vlad Polyakov both made the prestigious list, which is made up three teams of 15 from the sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling. The Alabama swimming and diving program is one of only two schools, John Hopkins lacrosse being the other, to put two athletes on the At-Large team.
"We are extremely proud of Stewart and Vlad," Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "The competition for this honor is extreme and to have two athletes earn Academic All-America in the at-large category is phenomenal. It's a tremendous honor for them and a very positive statement on the importance we as a team and an athletics department place on academics."
Smith, who carried a 3.85 in Business Management, was named to the first team while Polyakov who sports a 3.85 grade point average in pre-business, earned second team honors.
Smith finished off his Crimson Tide career by earning All-American honors off the one and three-meter boards and the platform this season, including a third place NCAA finish off the one-meter board. For his career, he earned six All-American honors.
Polyakov won the NCAA 200 breaststroke championship with a school record 1:53.93, shaving more than a second off the previous mark, which he set earlier in the season at the SEC Championships. He won the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the SEC Championships, setting the conference record in the 200. Polyakov also finaled in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the summer Olympics and took the bronze medal in both events at the World Championships last fall.
The Alabama duo are among only five athletes from the Southeastern Conference on the men's at-large teams. The Tide was the only conference school to have two athletes on the list.
