CARBONDALE, Ill. — For the 33rd-consecutive year, Southern Illinois University was named to the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America list for achieving a team GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Geoff Hanson, both the men’s and women’s programs at SIU continue to excel academically.
Individually, Baobao Ji, Beibei Ji, Lucia Romero and Adam Cernek earned CSCAA Scholar All-America team recognition after they achieved a GPA of 3.50 or better and were invited to compete at their respective national championship.
“We strive for these type of honors,” Hanson said. “The student part comes first for student-athletes and this team is really focused in on that. Swimming and diving is a close second in terms of priorities, but they are here first for academics. Even during these extremely difficult and uncertain times, these Salukis did exactly what they set out as a team to do. We have academic goals every year and they continue to achieve those goals.”
Baobao and Beibei Ji combined for six Missouri Valley Conference diving titles, 14 MVC Diver of the Week honors, and six appearances at NCAA Zone Diving Championships during their three seasons at SIU. Baobao was named MVC Diver of the Year for the second time in her career after the 2020 MVC Championships in which she won the one-meter dive and finished second in the three-meter dive. Beibei earned All-MVC First Team honors this past season after she claimed the MVC title in the three-meter and was runner-up in the one-meter. Earlier this summer, the Ji twins were also named CSCAA All-Americans.
The 2020 MVC Freshman of the year, Romero had a record-breaking first season as a Saluki. The Zaragoza, Spain native broke both the MVC and SIU record in the 100-back at the conference meet to win the event. It was one of six school-records that Romero broke at the conference meet as she also helped SIU win the 200-medley relay and added top-3 finishes in the 50-free and 200-back.
Cernak also had a memorable first season with the Maroon and White. The Mid-American Conference’s Freshman Swimmer of the Year, Cernak added MAC Co-Swimmer of the Year honors to his resume after he won both the 100- and 200-back with school-record times at the 2020 MAC Championships.
