June 28, 2018
NORFOLK, Va. - Penn State women's swimmer Ally McHugh (Philadelphia, Pa.) and men's diver Hector Garcia Boissier (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) were both named CSCAA Scholar All-Americans and six more women's teammates and five more men's teammates earned honorable mention honors, capping a successful season in both the pool and classroom for the Nittany Lions.
McHugh and Garcia were named Scholar All-Americans as they were a part of a record 1,069 swimmers and divers that achieved a grade point average of 3.50 or higher and participated in their respective NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Penn State was one of 181 institutions across all levels of collegiate athletics to have honorees.
In addition to the first-team selections, Tommie Dillione (Newtown, Pa.), Jane Donahue (Charlotte, N.C.), Maddie Hart (Bryn Mawr, Pa.), Annalee Johnson (Stafford, Va.), Katrina Kuhn (Piscataway, N.J.) and Stephanie Szekely (Doylestown, Pa.) on the women's side and Nathaniel Bledsoe (Carmel, Ind.), Robbie Dickson (Greenwich, N.J.), Matthew DiNunzio (Murrysville, Pa.), Hayden Harlow (Bentonville, Ark.) and Tomer Zamir (Gesher Haziv, Israel) on the men's side were among 1,137 students were named as honorable mentions. They similarly achieved a GPA of 3.50 or higher and achieved a "B" time standard or competed at a regional or zone qualifying meet.
Garcia and McHugh were named as the Penn State swimming and diving team's L.D. MacNeill and Elizabeth McCoy Award winners, respectively, as voted on by their teammates, who felt they contributed the most to the team's success by consistently achieving outstanding performances throughout the year. Both qualified for the NCAA Championships highlighted by McHugh claiming silver in the women's mile with not only the fastest time in Penn State history, but ranking as the eighth-fastest performer all-time in the world. Garcia claimed honorable mention All-America recognition in both the 1- and 3-meter dives at the men's championships and set a school record in the platform. Both were also team leaders at the Big Ten Championships, as McHugh posted three top-four finishes by winning gold in the mile, silver in the 400 IM and placing fourth in the 500 free in school-record time, and Garcia placing fifth with a school-record score on the 1-meter springboard.
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