Trio of Black Bears Named to America East All-Academic Swim Teams

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Three members of the University of Maine swimming & diving teams have been named to this year's America East All-Academic Teams as announced by the conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Robbie Bickford (Milford, Maine), a biochemistry major, tops the list on the men's side with a 4.00 GPA. Sophomore Cody Lachance (Winslow, Maine), a forestry major, also received the honor with a 3.53 GPA. Carmen Linden (Ottawa, Ontario), a sociology major, represented the women's team with a 3.92 mark.

The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Directors meeting where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference's nine member institutions decided to honor the league's top student-athletes, who excel equally in the classroom as they do on the play- ing field.

For the fourth 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 cal- endar year at their institution. Freshmen are not eligible for consideration.

-U-M-