Northwestern University Athletics
Amy Balcerzak Named GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America
4/20/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
April 20, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern University senior Amy Balcerzak (Sharon, Pa./Peddie School) was named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team today in the women's fall/winter at-large category. The category includes athletes in all NCAA-sponsored sports that compete in the fall and winter with the exception of women's volleyball and women's basketball.
Balcerzak, a swimmer who was a third-team selection a year ago, boasts a 3.76 grade-point average as a biological sciences major.
The prestigious academic award caps off a spectacular senior year for Balcerzak. At the NCAA Championships in March, she earned All-America honors in five events and broke two school records in leading the Wildcats to a best-ever sixth-place finish. She finished second and set a school mark in the 100-meter breaststroke, her best finish ever at NCAA's, and also set a school standard in the 200 individual medley. In addition, Balcerzak was a member of record-setting teams in both the 200 and 400 medley relays.
At the Big Ten Championships in February, Balcerzak swept the breaststroke events -- setting a Big Ten Championships record in the 100 -- and was also a member of NU's 200 medley relay team that established a Big Ten Championships mark. Overall, she finished second among all swimmers with 57 points to lead the Wildcats to a third-place finish for the second year in a row.
Overall, Balcerzak earned 20 All-America certificates in her career -- 11 as an individual, nine on relay teams -- and was a six-time Big Ten champion. In addition to her honors from GTE/CoSIDA, she is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and a three-time Academic All-America honoree by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).
A total of 15 Division I athletes from around the country were named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America Team in the fall/winter at-large category. Among them were five swimmers and three Big Ten athletes.
