Ciardelli & Westby Named ESPN the Magazine Academic All-Americans

Emory University senior swimmers Lillian Ciardelli and Ruth Westby each received one of the highest academic honors a collegiate athlete can earn, as the pair was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Women’s At Large First Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

This is the second-straight year that Ciardelli and Westby have earned a spot on an Academic All-America team.   Last season, both were named to the third team.  Ciardelli and Westby are the 116^th and 117^th Emory student-athletes to receive Academic All-America honors as selected by CoSIDA, and the 12^th and 13^th members of the women’s swimming and diving team.  They are also Emory’s first two Academic All-Americans for the 2009-10 school year.

During her senior year, Ciardelli was a five-time NCAA All-American and a two-time national champion in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays with the 200 team establishing a NCAA Division III record and the 400 title the first in program history. Her performance at the championships helped the Eagles to the program’s third national crown in school history.  Over her career, she has totaled 15 total All-America honors and three NCAA Championship titles, in addition to holding Emory varsity records in the 100 Fly, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay and 400 Medley Relay.  Ciardelli is a psychology major at Emory with a cumulative GPA of 3.78, and was named an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship honoree earlier in the year.

Westby has recorded a school-record five National Championships, including two this past season, in addition to 27 all-America honors, just one short of the maximum possible over a career.  This season, Westby earned seven all-America certificates, helping the team to its third National Championship.  She is the school-record holder in seven different events, and is the only swimmer in Emory history to earn all-America honors in the same three individual events (50, free, 100 free and 200 free) all four years of her career.  Westby was named the 2008 and 2010 UAA Swimmer of the Year and was chosen as the UAA Swimmer of the Week on 11 occasions during her Emory tenure.  She is a double major in Environmental Science and Political Science with a 3.77 cumulative GPA, and also won an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship this year.

The two recipients tie Emory with California Lutheran University for the most first team representatives in the college division, representing NCAA Division II and III, and NAIA schools across the nation.  Ciardelli and Westby become the 46^th and 47^th first team honorees in school history, and the fourth and fifth first team honorees in the history of the women’s swimming and diving program.

To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a key member of the team, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by her sports information director.  Women's sports that are grouped into the At Large category include bowling, crew, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis and water polo.

Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.