BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – College Sport Communicators selected six members of the Indiana swimming and diving program to its Academic All-America teams, the organization announced this week.

IU is one of two programs with six or more Academic All-Americans, with three men and three women earning the prestigious selection.

CSC awards Academic All-America status to swimmers and divers across all divisions that showcase elite performance both in competition and within the classroom. To gain eligibility, student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically, keep a cumulative grade point average above 3.5 and appear in five competitions or finish top eight at a conference meet.

College Sports Communicators

Academic All-America – Indiana

Carson Tyler (First Team)

Quinn Henninger (Second Team)

Owen McDonald (Second Team)

Ching Hwee Gan (Second Team)

Skyler Liu (Second Team)

Anna Peplowski (Second Team)

The senior diving duo of Quinn Henninger and Carson Tyler repeat as CSC Academic All-America honorees with Tyler earning first-team laurels and Henninger making the second team. Together, Henninger and Tyler won all three NCAA diving titles, the second diving sweep in the NCAA history and first since 1997. Tyler repeated as CSCAA Diver of the Year, Big Ten Men’s Diver of the Year and NCAA Champion on both 3-meter and platform. Henninger won his first NCAA title on the 1-meter springboard.

Tyler is a political science major, earning a 3.93 grade point average. Henninger has maintained a 3.77 GPA while pursuing a degree in finance.

A second-teamer, Junior Owen McDonald was the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships during his first season as Hoosier. The transfer was the Big Ten’s top-scoring swimmer at the NCAA Championships and earned a bronze medal in the 200-yard IM. At the conference championships, he swept his individual events – the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke and 200 IM. McDonald pursues a degree in fitness and wellness while currently boasting a 3.82 GPA.

Senior Ching Hwee Gan becomes a three-time CSC Academic All-American as a second-team honoree after earning Academic All-America Team Member of the Year honors for women’s swimming and diving a year ago. Gan medaled in the 1,650-yard freestyle for the third consecutive season, setting a program record with her time of 15:42.40. Set to graduate with a degree in nutrition science, Gan has maintained a spotless 4.0 GPA.

The Big Ten Women’s Swimmer of the Year, senior Anna Peplowski made history at her final NCAA Championships in March, becoming the program’s first women’s freestyle national champion with her victory in the 200-yard event. She also earned bronze in the 500 free for the second consecutive season and was the Big Ten’s joint top scorer at the national meet. Peplowski is set to graduate from IU this spring with a degree in sport marketing and management, having earned a 3.58 cumulative grade point average to this point.

Senior Skyler Liu claimed Big Ten Diver of the Year honors as the conference’s top scorer at the NCAA Championships. Liu’s first national title on platform was Indiana’s third in five years in the event. She also earned a bronze medal on the 3-meter springboard. he senior also successfully defended her Big Ten crowns in both events and was named the Big Ten Diver of the Championships. Liu will earn a sociology degree after keeping a 3.71 GPA.

EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Women’s Track & Field freshman Hadessah Austin was named Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week for the third time in an announcement by the league office Wednesday afternoon.

It marks the third time during the indoor and outdoor seasons that Austin has earned OVC Freshman of the Week honors and the fifth overall OVC weekly honor–she also has been named OVC Track Athlete of the Week twice this year.

Austin ran the OVC’s fastest 5,000-meter time last Thursday when she crossed the finish line at the Bryan Clay Invitational in 12th-place with a new USI freshman record of 16 minutes, 23.45 seconds. She broke USI Hall of Famer Heather Cooksey’s freshman mark of 16:39.33, which was set at the 2003 Hillsdale Relays, and moved into third all-time at USI in the event.

Earlier this season, Austin broke USI’s rookie record in the 10,000 meters with her time of 34:30.10 at the WashU Distance Carnival. She has broken four freshman records this season, including the rookie marks in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meters.

The OVC Indoor champion in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters, Austin currently ranks first in the outdoor 5,000 meters by nearly 40 seconds and first in the 10,000 meters by more than two minutes. She was named the OVC Indoor Freshman of the Year following her performance at the OVC Indoor Championships two months ago.

USI returns to action Friday and Saturday at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational in Louisville, Kentucky.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University baseball team returned to Jerry Blemker Field Wednesday afternoon for another home showdown, this time playing host to Volunteer State Community College from Gallatin, Tenn.

The Trailblazers grabbed an early lead and were able to ride the momentum to their second win over an NJCAA Division I team in the past three days, winning over the Pioneers 12-5.

The Pioneers were the first to break onto the scoreboard, getting a run in the first to take an early 1-0 lead.

Vincennes would respond back in their first time at bat in the bottom of the first, getting a leadoff double by sophomore Bradyn Douglas (Frankton, Ind.), followed by a single by sophomore Nate Montgomery (Lexington, Ind.) and an RBI single by freshman Carter Gricius (Scottsburg, Ind.) to even the score at 1-1.

VU continued the inning and grabbed their first lead of the afternoon with a two-RBI single by sophomore Corbin Napier (Indianapolis, Ind.) to put the Blazers on top 3-1.

Volunteer State would answer back in the fourth to get a pair of runs and even the score at 3-3.

The Trailblazers regained the lead in the fifth after the first six VU batters in the inning reached base safely.

The inning started with a four pitch walk by sophomore Brody Fessel (DePauw, Ind.), followed by a single by sophomore Bryce Gross (Bridgeport, Ill.) and an RBI single by Bradyn Douglas.

The Blazers added to their lead with a two-RBI single by Nate Montgomery and a successful double steal to give the Blazers a 7-3 lead.

Volunteer State would again answer back, getting a pair of runs in the seventh to cut the deficit in half at 7-5.

VU helped put the game away in the eighth with five big insurance runs in the inning.

Vincennes opened the eighth inning with three straight singles by Carter Gricius, Corbin Napier and an RBI single by Jakob Hoyer (Georgetown, Ind.).

The Trailblazers added more runs with a two RBI single by Bryce Gross and a two RBI single by freshman Jevan Andrews (Hobart, Ind.), giving Vincennes a commanding 12-5 lead heading into the ninth.

Vincennes was able to hold the Pioneers off the scoreboard in the ninth, only allowing one base runner in the inning as VU closed out the 12-5 victory over Volunteer State.

“This was truly a team win,” VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. “Our pitching staff did a good job. We used eight guys to make sure we are ready for the weekend. A lot of guys stepped up at the plate today, RBI from Douglas, two RBIs from Andrews, two RBIs by Montgomery another RBI from Gricius. Two RBIs by Napier, an RBI by Hoyer and two RBIs by Gross hitting in the nine hole. We were able to get contributions from seven or eight different hitters throughout the lineup as well as eight pitchers on the mound, so this is a pretty good team win.”

VU sophomore JD Bowser (Mt. Carmel, Ill.) got the start on the mound for the Trailblazers, throwing on a pitch limit to finish one-third of an inning, allowing one run on three hits and striking out one.

Freshman Wyatt Burris (Farmland, Ind.) was the first Blazer out of the bullpen, throwing three and one-third innings, allowing two runs on three hits.

Sophomore Bryce Gross took over on the mound from his shortstop position to throw one and one-third innings, allowing two hits and striking out three.

Freshman Kory Kingsbury (Evansville, Ind.) came on to get the first out of the sixth inning before turning the game over to freshman Ty Stultz (Terre Haute, Ind.) who promptly got the Pioneers to ground into an inning ending double play.

Stultz finished the day throwing one and two-thirds innings, allowing two runs, one earned on one hit and striking out two.

Freshman Kyle Holder (Mount Vernon, Ind.) threw one and one-third inning, allowing one hit and striking out two.

Freshman Ryan Rayburn (Columbus, Ind.) pitched in the ninth, retiring the only batter he faced before Jakob Hoyer came on to get the final out of the game for the Trailblazers.

“All of the guys that pitched in relief today did a really good job,” Barney added. “I think almost all of them got the first guy they faced out and that’s one of our big things coming out of the bullpen. We were able to stretch it out a bit with some guys. We had some guys in class today that were going to throw early but got here late so we had to throw them later than I originally wanted.”

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana senior centerfielder Khi Holiday singled in the game-winner in the ninth to cap a comeback victory over Bellarmine University, 10-9, Wednesday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI is 19-22 overall, while Bellarmine is 10-31.
 
Trailing 9-6 going into the bottom of the ninth, junior first baseman Patrick McLellan singled to lead off the rally before singles by junior catcher Charlie Marisca and sophomore rightfielder Cameron Boyd to load the bases. Junior leftfielder Hunter Miller drew an RBI walk to get the scoring going to make the score, 9-7.
 
Junior pinch hitter Kannon Coakley drove in senior pinch runner BJ Banyon to make the score, 9-8, while junior pinch hitter Micajah Wall tied the game, 9-9, with a sacrifice fly and set the stage for Holiday.
 
Holiday sent a high hopper over the pitcher and beat the throw as Miller scored the game-winning run for USI’s 10-9 victory.
 
The four-run rally in the ninth was the fourth time USI had to battle back to take the lead in the game.
 
Trailing 2-0 in the second, Boyd hit the first of his two home runs in the contest to knot the game at 2-2. He would follow with a three-run blast in the fifth to give USI the lead 5-4. The home runs were Boyd’s third and fourth of the season.
 
Boyd finished the game with a team-best four-for-five at the plate with three runs scored and five RBIs. The four hits, two home runs, and five RBIs were career-highs for Boyd.
 
Bellarmine scored two in the seventh and three in the eighth to lead, 9-6, and set the stage for USI in the ninth.
 
On the mound, senior right-hander Hiroyuki Yamada picked up his first win of the season in relief. Yamada threw one inning, allowing a walk and striking out one.
 
USI freshman right-hander Colin Wolfe started and received a no-decision. The freshman allowed two unearned runs on a hit and three walks over three innings of work.