AU ROUNDUP: Tigers land 33 on SEC Academic Honor Roll

A total of 33 Auburn Tigers have been named to the 2009 Southeastern Conference First Year Student Athletes Academic Honor Roll, it was announced Thursday by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive.

The Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2008-09 academic calendar.

Women’s swimming had the most athletes earn SEC Academic Honor Roll distinctions with six. They include Anna Aguero (Undeclared Sciences and Mathematics), Vanessa Dantin (Undeclared Liberal Arts), Micah Lawrence (Pre-Graphic Design), Laura Mulqueen (Pre-Graphic Design), Jennifer VonJouanne (Undeclared Sciences and Mathematics) and MacKenzie Wickliffe (Pre-Psychology).

The men’s golf and women’s soccer teams were honored with four selections each. Men’s golf was represented by Kyle Kopsick (Undeclared Liberal Arts), Will McCurdy (Undeclared Liberal Arts), John Stembridge (Pre-Mechanical Engineering) and David Zickler (Pre-Business). Women’s soccer included Katy Frierson (Undeclared Liberal Arts), Julie King (Undeclared Liberal Arts), Mary Nicholson (Pre-Nursing Science) and Lydia Townsend (Undeclared Liberal Arts).

Football, gymnastics and softball each had three members selected. Football was represented by Barrett Trotter (Undeclared Liberal Arts), Andre Wadley (Undeclared Liberal Arts) and Derek Winter (Management).

Gymnasts included Laura Lane (Undeclared Sciences and Mathematics), Kelsie Montgomery (Hotel and Restaurant Management) and Kylie Shields (Hotel and Restaurant Management) while softball had Amber Harrison (Pre-Engineering), Jenee Loree (Undeclared Liberal Arts) and Alexa Martinez (Undeclared Sciences and Mathematics).

Equestrian, men’s track and women’s golf each had two members with Rachel Cooper (Pre-Business), Kelsey George (Agricultural Business and Economics), Julian Matthews (Pre-Business) and Jeffery Sanders (Pre-Architecture), Madison Overbey (Business Administration) and Patricia Sanz (Microbial Biology), respectively.

Men’s swimmer Adam Godzinski (Pre-Business), men’s tennis’ Aleksandar Stamchev (Pre-Business), women’s tennis’ Daniela Vukadinovic (Apparel Merchandising) and volleyball’s Christina Solverson (Pre-Polymer and Fiber Engineering) were also selected.

Each student-athlete must 1) have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or above at the nominating institution; 2) be on scholarship or a letter winner; 3) have completed 24 semester hours of non-remedial credit at the nominating institution; and 4) have been a member of the varsity team for the sport’s entire NCAA Championship segment.

Tiger swimmers headed to FINA World Championships
Auburn swimming & diving will send 17 current and former athletes to the 2009 FINA World Championships.

Auburn head swimming and diving coach Brett Hawke will serve as an assistant to the Brazilian national team while assistants Aaron Ciarla and Richard Long will serve as assistant caoches for the Bahamas and Paraguay, respectively.

“It’s one of the biggest contingent of Auburn athletes we have going after any major meet, ever,” said Hawke. “It’s exciting in the fact that we could stand to win lots of medals and come away with more medals than what we did at the Olympics last year. I think it’s a pretty good position for Auburn University right now.

“I think if we put everybody together under the same flag, we’d probably be the fourth or fifth biggest team out of any country. It’s a huge number of athletes representing different countries. It just goes to show the diversity of our program and we have a proud history and athletes from all over the world representing Auburn.”

Of those Tigers traveling to Rome, eight are current student-athletes back on the Plains, including Cailtin Geary (US), Adam Klein (US), Tyler McGill (US), Alana Dillette (BS), Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (BS), Adam Brown (GB), Pascal Wollach (CA) and Genaro Prono (PY). Former Tigers Kirsty Coventry (ZW), Fred Bousuet (FR), Cesar Cielo (BR), Alexei Puninski (HR), George Bovell (TT), Mark Gangloff (US), Eric Shanteau (US), Jakob Andkjaer (DK) and Matt Targett (AU) will also be representing their respective countries.

The current 50m freestyle world record holder, Bousquet, and defending Olympic Gold Medalist, Cielo, have both been training on the Auburn campus under Hawke and will look to lay down another world-record time in Rome.

“The 50 free is looking pretty stacked for Auburn,” said Hawke. “We’ve got the defending world champion and now the defending world-record holder. Cesar (Cielo) and Fred (Bousquet) will be going up against each other — No. 1 and 2 in the world this year. It’s just looking like a battle. It’s exciting for Auburn and exciting for the world of swimming because I think the world record’s going to be broken.”

Auburn swimmers have made the medal stand a total of 38 times at the FINA Long Course World Championships since first appearing in 1978.

The Tigers have totaled 19 gold medals in the process. Former Tiger Rowdy Gaines leads the way in the medal count, earning a total of eight — five in 1982 and three in ’78. Gaines also leads the way in the gold medal count, winning a total of five for Team USA.

Former Tiger Margaret Hoelzer is the only Auburn swimmer to own a current World Championships meet record. Hoelzer set the 200 back record in 2007, touching in at 2:07.16.

Auburn’s most successful individual events of at the FINA World Championships in the 200 free and 200 back.

The Tigers also have found abundant success in the relay events, most notably in the 400 MR, as it has generated a total of nine medals through the years. The 1978 World Championships were the most fruitful for Auburn athletes. The Tigers earned a total of 10 medals — four gold. Dave McCagg led the way with three gold medals (100 free, 400 FR and 400 MR).