CoSIDA Academic All-America Release
AUSTIN, Texas – Following their appearance on the 2017-18 Google Cloud Academic All-District® Men's & Women's At-Large teams last month, Paden Duke and Mary Northcutt each represented Carson-Newman swimming as selections to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division II Men's and Women's At-Large teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The sophomore duo were each selected to Third-Team Academic All-America, which consisted of 15 student-athletes. It marks the first academic All-America honor for Duke and Northcutt.
Duke, a native of Memphis, Tenn., was the only student-athlete on the third-team who accumulated a 4.0-grade point average as a Chemistry major.
During the 2017-18 campaign, Duke recorded a season-best time of 9:54.24 in the 1000 yard free at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships. Other notable swims for the sophomore include a third-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle in the team's quad meet against Mars Hill, Milligan, and Warren Wilson on Nov. 4. His season-best time in 500-yard freestyle 4:50.70 at the NSU Shark Invitational, which held some of the top competition between nationally-ranked schools in all of D2.
Duke, along with Golf's Anthony Marcinelli in 2018, became the first male student-athletes to be selected at-large All-America since 2007 when Preston Sneed of the Tennis team became the first ever male to do so in the history of C-N during the D2 era.
Northcutt (Huntsville, Ala.) was one of six student-athletes on the third-team who accumulated a 4.0 GPA which came in Exercise Science.
The freestyle and backstroke swimmer was a member of the Eagles 200 freestyle relay team who went to the 2018 National Swim Championships. The group earned All-America honors in the event with a fifth-place collecting a new school record at 1:32.47. Northcutt was also a member of the 200 freestyle relay team who gathered an All-BMC time during the conference championships.
Northcutt joins a group that now only consists of herself and former Eagles swimmer Nancy Claire Smith as the only women's academic All-America at-large selections in the history of C-N during the D2 era. Smith earned the honor in back-to-back years in 2016-17.
"Couldn't be more proud of Mary and Paden," Coach Jordan Taylor stated. "Every year the swimmers on this team continue to raise the bar. It's great for them and this program to be recognized for their hard work and talents.
The at-large program for the CoSIDA Academic All-America® program includes the sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis, water polo for both men and women; bowling, crew and field hockey for women; and volleyball and wrestling for men.
Thirty-five (23 women, 12 men) student-athletes on the Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division II At-Large Teams have a 4.00 GPA. The Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division II Women's At-Large First Team had an overall 3.98 GPA, while the Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division II Men's At-Large First Team had an overall 3.95 GPA.
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