Swimming's Bender, Shelley Named to America East All-Academic Teams
3/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- University of Maine swimmers Jeremy Bender (St. Paul, Minn.) and Caitlin Shelley (Charlottesville, Va.) have each been named to their respected America East All-Academic Teams, as announced by the conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Bender makes his second appearance on the team as he was also selected to the All-Academic team in 2009. Earlier this season, Bender was honored as the male 'M' Club Dean Smith award winner which is presented annually to the top male and female student-athlete for oustanding academic and athletic achievement along with citizenship and community service. Bender had a steller showing at this year's America East Championships as he reset his own record with a blistering 4:05.52 mark in the 400-yard IM event while placing tenth overall in the event. Bender also had a strong showing in the 1650 freestyle were he placed eighth with a time of 16:19.19.
Shelley was honored to the All-Academic team for the first time after being named a Maine Scholar-Athlete Gold Medal recipient earlier this year. Shelley also had a strong showing at the America East Championships as the senior captain broke two individual school-records. Shelley placed fifth in the 100 yard breaststroke with a record time of 1:04.48 and was seventh in the 200 yard IM with a new record time of 2:05.75. Shelley also helped the 200 yard medley team to a school-record time of 1:47.16.
The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Director meetings, where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference's nine member institutions decided to honor the league's top student-athletes, whom excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field.
For the third straight year, America East will select the All-Academic teams using CoSIDA's Academic All-America program as a model. Student-athletes worthy of consideration are nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by a committee of SIDs, academic advisors and faculty representatives from all nine member institutions.
All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time or are made up of 10 student-athletes for individual sports. To be nominated for the distinction, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team's games or competitions. In the classroom, student-athletes must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshmen are not eligible for consideration.
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