Men's & Women's All-District At-Large Teams

University of Evansville Academic All-Americans

Thanks to swimmer Christina Schmidgall, tennis player Kate Chybowski and swimmer Colin Gray, the University of Evansville is the only school in its region to put three student-athletes on the ballot for the Capital One Academic All-America At-Large Teams, chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Schmidgall and Chybowski were chosen today for the 10-member All-District 5 Women's At-Large Team, and Gray was chosen for the All-District 5 Men's At-Large Team.  Second in District 5 behind Evansville with two Academic All-America finalists are Notre Dame, Bradley and Northern Illinois.  First-team selections from each of the eight districts across the country go on the Academic All-America ballot.  The men's and women's at-large teams will be chosen in the next two weeks by a committee of CoSIDA members.

The At-Large teams are arguably the most difficult Academic All-America teams to make because of the large number of athletes eligible for selection.  The at-large category includes male and female student-athletes in the sports of tennis, swimming & diving, fencing, gymnastics, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing and water polo, along with the men's sports of wrestling and volleyball, and the women's sports of bowling, crew and field hockey.

Schmidgall, from Golden Valley, Minn. (Robbinsville Cooper HS), graduated last week with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and earned her degree in Athletic Training. She holds UE records in the 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events.  She produced two top-3 finishes at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in February, finishing second in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 500 free.  She was also the MVC Elite 18 Award winner for having the highest grade point average among all competitors at the MVC Championships.  A three-time all-MVC selection, Schmidgall is a finalist for the Ida M. Stieler Award, presented each June to UE's most outstanding female athlete of the year.

Chybowski, from Appleton, Wis. (Appleton North HS), is Evansville's all-time leader in singles victories (107) and total victories (189), breaking records set in 1999.  She finished 17-3 at number one singles and 10-6 at number one doubles as a senior. Chybowski received the Lois D. Patton Award in April for being the Aces' most outstanding senior female scholar-athlete, and in May was chosen as the Ohio Valley Region recipient of the Arthur Ashe Junior Leadership & Sportsmanship Award.  She won the 2010 Stieler Award, and is a finalist for the same honor in 2011.  The three-time first-team all-MVC selection graduated with a 3.92 GPA in Biology, and will attend the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in August.

Gray, from Carmel, Ind. (Westfield HS), goes into his senior year in August with a perfect 4.0 GPA in Mathematics.  He will spend the summer at North Carolina State University as part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates program. Gray is an Academic All-America Team finalist for the second year in a row.  He was Evansville's fastest swimmer in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events, and finished his junior season with a season-best time of 2:12.75 in the 200 breaststroke at the Mid-American Conference Championships in March.  Gray won three events during the season, and was UE's lone winner at the Western Kentucky Invitational.  He finished in the MAC's top 20 in both the 100- and 200-breaststroke.

The University of Evansville has produced 42 Academic All-Americans, with its first in 1972.  UE has had at least one Academic All-American in each of the last three years, and seven of the last eight.  Senior Mike Luttrull is the most recent selection, chosen for the Men's Soccer first team last November.