Three Owl Swimmers Named To C-USA All-Academic Team
2/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 15, 2012
HOUSTON - Only a few hours before the Rice swim team officially begins its defense of last season's Conference USA Championship in the sport, Owls' Shelby Bottoms, Alex O'Brien and Danielle Spence were all named to the 2012 C-USA Swimming All-Academic Team the league office announced on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
A total of eight C-USA swimming and diving student-athletes were named to the league's 2012 All-Academic Team, as voted by the conference's sports information directors for the sport. Six seniors, a junior and a sophomore make up this year's team. Nominees must hold at least a 3.2 GPA and be a regular participant for their team. Rice led the way with three All-Academic selections, the most of any C-USA school.
Senior Shelby Bottoms is a sports management and economics double-major with a 3.718 GPA. The Houston native from nearby Lamar High School is a three-time C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll member and a two-time winner of the Commissioner's Academic Medal. Her 2012 time in the 200-yard individual medley ranks third in the league and her 200-breaststroke and 100- and 200- butterfly times also rate among the C-USA's top 10. Senior Alex O'Brien of St. Paul , Minn., is a three-time Commissioner's Honor Roll and Academic Medal selection as a Civil Engineering major. Her times in the 500-yard freestyle and the 400 IM both rank among the top-three C-USA league marks. Danielle Spence is a two-time winner of the Academic Medal and two-time Honor Roll member as an Economics major. The junior distance specialist from San Diego, Calif., holds top-10 C-USA times in both the mile and 1,000-freestyle.
The other All-Academic honorees included Kylie Francis (East Carolina), Sarah Kay (Marshall), Reka Kovacs (Houston) and Genny Konicke (SMU) and Emily Vavourakis (SMU).
The 2012 Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championships take place beginning Wednesday to Saturday, Feb. 15-18, at the University of Houston Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium. Championship finals are held each evening at 6 pm after a round of preliminary races in the morning. A year ago the Rice Owls won their first league title in swimming at the C-USA meet.
2012 C-USA Swimming and Diving All-Academic Team
Name, School Year GPA Major Hometown
Shelby Bottoms, Rice Sr. 3.718 Sports Management/Economics Houston, Texas
Kylie Francis, ECU Sr. 3.83 Fashion Merchandising Gilbertville, Pa.
Sarah Kay, Marshall So. 4.0 Business Cape Town, South Africa
Genny Konicke, SMU Sr. 3.565 Biological Sciences Plano, Texas
Reka Kovacs, Houston Sr. 3.85 Kinesiology Budapest, Hungary
Alex O'Brien, Rice Sr. 3.63 Civil Engineering St. Paul, Minn.
Danielle Spence, Rice Jr. 3.92 Economics San Diego, Calif.
Emily Vavourakis, SMU Sr. 3.799 Environmental Engineering Sint-Niklass, Belgium
*Repeat selection
Players Mentioned
