With six more honorees named June 9, the Kenyon College athletics department has established a new institutional record for the number of Capital One Academic All-Americans selected in a single year. Swimmers Arthur Conover ’17, Hannah Cooper ’15, Trevor Manz ’17 and Haley Townsend ’16, as well as tennis players Wade Heerboth ’15 and Robert Turlington ’16, were selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) to respective men's and women's 2014-15 Academic All-America At-Large teams for NCAA Division III student-athletes.
Those six join Kyle Hardacker ’15 (baseball), Sam Justice ’15 (men's soccer) and Grant Carney ’15 (men's soccer) to give Kenyon a total of nine Capital One Academic All-Americans for the 2014-15 season. The department's previous best total was six honorees during the 2012-13 athletics season.
The Capital One Academic All-America At-Large men's and women's teams each consisted of 45 NCAA Division III student-athletes who were selected from a wide variety of sports. The 45 were then split into three teams. On the men's side, Conover was the lone Kenyon first-team selection. Heerboth and Manz were voted to the second team, while Turlington picked up a third-team position. In women's voting, both Cooper and Townsend captured spots on the first team.
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete had to be a varsity starter or key reserve, had to maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, had to reach sophomore athletic and academic standings, and had to be nominated by his institution's sports information director. Additionally, a student-athlete had to be previously voted to the first team of an Academic All-District squad.
Conover and Manz were a part of Kenyon's third straight and 34th overall NCAA Championship team. Conover was the national champion in the 1,650-yard freestyle, which he won in NCAA record time, and Manz was a part of the Lords' title-winning and record-setting 200-yard medley relay team. Additionally, Conover, a physics major with a 3.76 GPA, was runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle and the 800-yard freestyle relay. Manz, a biochemistry major with a 3.99 GPA, also swam a leg on Kenyon's runner-up 800-yard freestyle relay team and produced four more top-eight finishes at the championship meet.
On the tennis court, Heerboth and Turlington were key pieces to a Kenyon team that went 20-6, won the North Coast Athletic Conference title, and earned a national rank as high as No. 8. Heerboth, a recent graduate who majored in economics, owned a 3.83 GPA. He was 18-11 in singles play, 26-6 in doubles, and was one of just 32 players invited to participate in the NCAA Singles Championship. He finished his four-year Kenyon career with overall records of 89-30 in singles play and 83-20 in doubles.
Turlington, a biochemistry major, possesses a 3.96 GPA. He played mainly at the No. 3 spot in Kenyon's lineup and produced an overall record of 20-6. Through three years with the program, he is 32-10 in singles play. In 2013, Turlington and Heerboth played doubles together and were named Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Americans.
On the women's side, Cooper was a psychology major who graduated with a 3.85 GPA and an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. In the pool, she was a part of the national champion and NCAA-record setting 200-yard medley relay team. She also swam with the runner-up 400-yard medley relay team and took a solo fifth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Over her career at the championship meet, she collected seven All-America awards.
Townsend, an international studies major, sports a 3.94 GPA. She was the only one of the six Kenyon nominees to be a repeat winner. With a career total of 15 NCAA All-America swims to her name, Townsend had three of those finishes at this year's NCAA Championship, where she swam a leg on the second-place 400-yard freestyle relay, the fourth-place 200-yard free relay and the 10th-place 800-yard freestyle relay.
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