Five years ago, the Big Green swimming team of Dartmouth College stood on the edge of the abyss, one small shove away from extinction. After fielding a swim team for nearly a century, the administration of the Ivy League school had decided to axe the team. But an unlikely coalition of swimmers, alumni, student government leaders and Swimming World magazine turned the harsh decree around and the swim team was saved.

Good thing it was.

While the team has made impressive improvements in its aquatic performance in the last five years, it still hovers near the bottom of the league. But today it stands proudly at the summit of what college athletics is supposed to be all about. The Big Green is the Number One NCAA Division I Academic All-American swim team in the nation, according to statistics compiled by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).

That’s first in the toughest division of the #1-ranked college sport for academic performance.

The significance of the achievement was not lost on Dartmouth Head Coach Jim Wilson, who commented: “I couldn’t be more proud of every member of this team.”

But it’s not just Coach Wilson who should be proud of his student-athletes’ achievement. The entire Dartmouth community—including those key administrators who had the courage and honesty to reverse an ill-considered decision -- should share in the pride.

Dartmouth ranked third among the men with a 3.400 grade point average for the Winter-Spring 2007 semester, and ninth among the women with a 3.500. Combined, it ranked first, as Ivy League teams took three of the top four spots. Brown University was second, while Harvard was fourth. The University of Denver, which earned the #1 spot the previous semester, was third.

Butler University, which is slated for extinction by what one critic termed “its short-sighted president and athletic director,” was sixth.

The top-ranked women’s team was USC – that’s the University of South Carolina -- coached by Don Gibb. The Gamecocks boasted a 3.606 GPA, just edging out Iona (3.580), the newly reestablished team from Vanderbilt (3.563) and Butler (3.562).

In all, an astonishing 111 Div. I women’s teams earned Academic All-America honors. Nine had GPAs of 3.50 or better, while 104 scored 3.0 or higher.

The men of Georgetown University posted the very best team GPA in all of Division I at 3.50. They were followed by Dartmouth (3.40) and Denver (3.394).

All of the Division I teams scheduled to be cut earned Academic All-America honors: Butler (women, 3.562; men 3.214); Syracuse (women, 3.31; men 3.140); Ohio (women, 3.329; men, 2.950); and Rutgers (women, 3.138; men, 2.952).

Division I – Women’s Academic All-American Swimming Teams

3.606 University of South Carolina
3.580 Iona College
3.563 Vanderbilt University
3.562 Butler University
3.550 Virginia Tech
3.530 Wagner College
3.525 Evansville
3.507 University of New Mexico
3.500 Dartmouth College
3.489 Eastern Michigan University
3.485 Brown University
3.470 Providence College
3.461 University of Denver
3.460 Lafayette College
3.457 Harvard University
3.456 Duke University
3.440 Wright State University
3.420 University of New Hampshire
3.402 Gardner-Webb University
3.400 Bucknell University
3.394 New Mexico State University
3.390 Clemson University
3.390 George Washington University
3.390 Duquesne University
3.386 American University
3.380 Penn State University
3.377 University of Michigan
3.374 University of Delaware
3.373 Loyola College (MD)
3.348 Columbia University
3.348 Boston College
3.345 University of Louisville
3.344 Manhattan College
3.340 Brigham Young University
3.337 Rider University
3.330 University of Illinois
3.330 Northwestern University
3.329 Ohio University
3.326 University of Buffalo
3.320 Stanford University
3.318 Valparaiso University
3.314 Ball State University
3.312 University of Minnesota
3.310 Xavier University
3.310 Purdue University
3.310 Syracuse University
3.310 University of Alabama
3.306 Washington State University
3.280 Saint Francis University
3.275 Campbell University
3.270 Georgetown University
3.263 University of Cincinnati
3.260 Southern Methodist
3.243 South Dakota State University
3.240 Southern Illinois
3.238 University of Notre Dame
3.230 The University of Akron
3.230 Georgia Tech University
3.230 The Ohio State University
3.230 University of Florida
3.227 Towson University
3.220 Miami University
3.220 Missouri State University
3.220 University of Missouri
3.214 The Florida State University
3.211 University of Kansas
3.210 University of Virginia
3.210 University of Illinois at Chicago
3.204 Binghamton University
3.200 University of Georgia
3.200 University of North Florida
3.200 UW-Milwaukee
3.198 Indiana University
3.190 Illinois State University
3.185 Northern Arizona University
3.180 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
3.180 Colgate University
3.170 Western Illinois University
3.160 Texas Christian University
3.160 University of Washington
3.160 UCLA
3.150 St. Bonaventure University
3.150 University of Pittsburgh
3.140 University of Tennessee
3.140 Univ. of Connecticut
3.140 Oakland University
3.138 Rutgers
3.132 University of Wyoming
3.130 Michigan State University
3.120 West Virginia University
3.120 University of Nevada-Reno
3.110 East Carolina University
3.110 Seton Hall University
3.110 University of Maryland
3.107 NC State University
3.107 UMASS (Amherst)
3.079 University of North Carolina
3.079 University of Iowa
3.070 Texas A&M University
3.060 Central Conn. State University
3.040 Boston University
3.027 Radford University
3.010 University of Richmond
3.000 University of Nebraska
2.983 UC Santa Barbara
2.980 University of Vermont
2.980 Georgia Southern University
2.960 Iowa State University
2.945 University of the Pacific
2.940 University of Rhode Island
2.840 U.S. Naval Academy


Division I – Men’s Academic All-American Swimming Teams
3.500 Georgetown University
3.400 Dartmouth College
3.394 University of Denver
3.390 Brown University
3.337 Harvard University
3.307 Stanford University
3.300 Bucknell University
3.295 University of Delaware
3.290 UNLV
3.282 Duke University
3.267 University of the Pacific
3.260 Missouri State University
3.240 Brigham Young University
3.240 Xavier University
3.234 Valparaiso University
3.231 University of Notre Dame
3.230 George Washington University
3.230 The Ohio State University
3.223 Georgia Tech University
3.220 Michigan State University
3.218 University of Cincinnati
3.216 University of Minnesota
3.214 Butler University
3.210 University of Florida
3.200 Lafayette College
3.190 Southern Illinois
3.152 Ball State University
3.149 Southern Methodist University
3.140 Syracuse University
3.137 University of California at Berkeley
3.129 Boston College
3.129 Loyola College (MD)
3.128 University of North Carolina
3.120 Providence College
3.110 Penn State University
3.110 Cornell University
3.110 UW-Milwaukee
3.104 Binghamton University
3.100 Colgate University
3.079 University of Maryland
3.071 University of Buffalo
3.070 University of Alabama
3.070 University of Tennessee
3.065 University of Iowa
3.060 Northwestern University
3.050 Iona College
3.050 University of Pittsburgh
3.030 University of Georgia
3.030 Clemson University
3.030 United States Naval Academy
3.000 University of Virginia
2.990 Miami University
2.989 Evansville
2.983 Wright State University
2.980 University of Illinois at Chicago
2.980 Purdue University
2.970 University of Louisville
2.969 American University
2.952 Rutgers
2.950 Ohio University
2.936 Duquesne University
2.933 Eastern Michigan University
2.930 University of Missouri
2.929 UC Santa Barbara
2.904 University of Wyoming
2.904 Seton Hall University
2.900 Indiana University
2.900 University of Washington
2.897 Towson University
2.890 Boston University
2.890 NC State University
2.890 Oakland University
2.880 Rider University
2.880 East Carolina University
2.879 The Florida State University
2.860 University of Michigan
2.840 United States Air Force Academy
2.829 University of South Carolina