March 21, 2009

CLEVELAND - The Ohio University swimming team landed five Bobcats on the Academic All-Mid-American Conference Team, the league office announced Friday, tying with Buffalo for the most of any team in the conference. Ohio, who took second at the MAC Championships in late February, made up over a fifth of the 24-woman team and had four named to the Academic All-MAC squad in 2008.

Junior Chelsey Bower (Bethel Park, Pa.) earned All-Academic squad honors for a second-straight year, while senior Carine Souza (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and sophomores Rachel Heim (San Diego, Calif.), Stacey Huber (Gainesville, Fla.) and Amanda Traylor (Los Alamitos, Calif.) all earned the honor for the first time.

Bower, who's competing at the NCAA Championships this weekend, is a finance major with a 3.83 GPA. The 2009 first-team All-MAC selection earned a 4.0 GPA during the 2008-09 Fall Quarter. She won the 50 freestyle at the MAC Championships in a school and MAC-record time of 22.55. Bower also claimed second in the 100 free at the MAC Championships in a school-record mark of 49.16, while both times qualified her for the NCAA Championships. Bower also swam the second leg on Ohio's MAC-champion 200 free relay team that finished in a school and league-record mark of 1:30.47 and the anchor leg on the Bobcats' 400 free relay champion team that also touched in a school and MAC-record time of 3:20.04. She helped set school records in the 200 and 400 medley relays at the MAC Championships, which finished fourth and third, respectively, as well.

Souza, a dietetics major with a 3.21 GPA, led off Ohio's fourth-place 200 medley relay team at the MAC Championships that finished in a school-record mark of 1:40.80. She also placed eighth in the 100 back finals, setting a personal-best time of 56.32 in the prelims, 14th in the 200 freestyle finals in a lifetime-best 1:51.32 and 24th (of 38) in the 100 free finals, with yet another lifetime-best mark of 52.38. Souza took eighth in the 200 free at the 13-team Zippy Invitational Dec. 5-7, while swimming the second leg on the sixth-place 400 free relay team.

Heim, a 2009 first-team All-MAC honoree, is a biochemistry major with a 3.97 GPA. She won two MAC championships, as well as a pair of relay crowns, at the league championships. Heim claimed the 100 butterfly title in an Ohio and MAC-record time of 53.47, while taking the 100 back title, also in school and league-record fashion (54.65), with both times under the provisional NCAA standard. She swam the third leg on the winning 200 free relay team (1:30.47) and the second leg of the champion 400 free relay team (3:20.04), both of which finished in a school and MAC-record mark. She was also on the 800 free relay (7:13.50) and 200 medley relay (1:40.80) teams that set school records at the Championships. Heim made Dean's List for the 2008-09 Fall Quarter and was named MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week twice.

Huber, a 2009 first-team All-MAC recipient, is a fine arts major with a 3.41 GPA. She repeated as MAC champion in the 1650 freestyle in a school-record time of 16:28.19, after missing the beginning of the season with a foot injury. Her 1650 free time provisionally qualified her for the NCAA Championships. Huber also set a school record in the 1000 free with a 9:58.76 take out of her 1650 time. Huber placed 16th in the 400 individual medley at the MAC Championships, setting a personal-best 4:31.34 during the prelims, while taking sixth in the 500 free.

Traylor, a 2009 second-team All-MAC selection, is an exercise physiology major with a 3.58 GPA. She landed on the Dean's List for the 2008-09 Fall Quarter, earning a 3.64 GPA. Traylor swam the second leg on Ohio's runner-up 800 freestyle relay team at the MAC Championships, which finished in a school-record time of 7:13.50. She placed fourth in the 500 free at the Championships in a personal-best 4:49.18, the second-fastest time in Bobcat history, which was also an NCAA provisional qualifying time. Traylor also took seventh in the 1650 free (16:49.76) and 10th in the 200 free in a lifetime-best 1:49.49 at the MAC Championships. She touched third in the 1650 free at the 13-team Zippy Invitational on Dec. 7. Traylor placed third in the 200 free Oct. 25 at the six-team Washington State Invitational, as well.

Ohio also had six swimmers and divers named MAC Academic Honorable Mention, as junior diver Amy Bromberg (Deerfield, Ill.), junior Caitlin Drozin (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio), sophomore Stella Johnson (Jacksonville, Fla.), junior Rachael Kloosterman (Whitby, Ont.), junior Heather McKenzie (Burke, Va.) and sophomore Kasey Tolbert (Yorktown, Ind.) were all placed on the list.

To receive consideration for Academic All-MAC, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport. First year students and junior college transfers in their first year of residence were not eligible for the award. The MAC schools' faculty athletic representatives chose the All-Academic Team based on outstanding academic and athletic accomplishments during the 2008-09 season.