The University of Mary Washington student-athletes secured 15 of the 25 positions available on the Capital Athletic Conference’s Silver Anniversary Men’s Swimming Team. Current UMW senior Alex Anderson, a two-time CAC Athlete of the Year and three-time NCAA individual champion, leads the celebratory squad.
Entering its 25th year of varsity competition, the CAC selected a Silver Anniversary Team in 19 championship sports, primarily based on season-ending conference awards as voted by the conference coaches. Each Silver Anniversary Team will feature 25 former or current standouts. Men’s and women’s indoor track & field, which became a CAC championship sport in 2012, was combined with men’s and women’s outdoor track & field. The Silver Anniversary Golf Team has just eight members because the sport was added to the CAC championships list just seven years ago.
The teams will be announced early in the regular-season for its respective sport. Each Silver Anniversary Team honoree will receive a commemorative gift from the conference, and many will be recognized by their institution/alma mater at some time during the academic year.
The University of Mary Washington, a charter member of the CAC, led the conference with 153 current and former student-athletes on the Silver Anniversary Teams, including 40 in men’s and women’s tennis combined. Salisbury University, which joined the CAC in the 1994-95 athletic season, was second with 121 Silver Anniversary Team honorees. CAC charter members York College of Pa. (59) and St. Mary’s College of Md. (35) were next in line for most Silver Anniversary Team honorees.
The CAC was organized as a six-team affiliation in 1989 and began championship competition with the winter sports during the 1990-91 season. Membership changes in the last decade ultimately created a 10-team conference that has become one of the strongest in NCAA Division III.
CAC teams have won 18 national team championships, and dozens of other teams have finished in among the top four in NCAA Division III competition.
In 2013-14, the CAC advanced more than 25 teams to post-season competition. Four CAC athletic programs finished among the Top 60 in the final Learfield Cup – the only conference in the Middle Atlantic Region to accomplish that feat. One team won a national championship (Salisbury University women’s lacrosse) and three others played in the national championship game. Nineteen CAC teams won at least one game in NCAA Tournament competition and 10 advanced to at least the NCAA Sweet 16.
In the last two years, CAC student-athletes have combined to win six individual national championships at NCAA swimming or track & field competitions. The CAC student-athletes collected a record 11 Capital One Academic All-America awards in 2013-14 as well as an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship and the Josten’s Award, recognizing a Division III women’s basketball player for her achievements on the court, in the classroom and contributions to the community.
In the classroom, the CAC boasts 81 Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, including one Academic All-American of the Year award winner, 12 NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship winners, five NCAA Elite 89 award winners, two Honda year-end award winners and a Josten’s Award winner in women’s basketball. The CAC also features an annual Academic Honor Roll that recently honored nearly 1,200 students for their academic achievements. Thousands of other student-athletes have received Player of the Year, All-America or All-Region recognition in their respective sports.
Anderson, one of five UMW men’s swimmers on the Silver Anniversary Team to have captured the CAC Men’s Swimming Athlete of the Year award at least twice during his career, was named the 2014 NCAA Championship Men’s Swimmer of the Meet after successfully defending his national title in the 400 IM and adding a gold in the 200 butterfly.
Anderson is 9-for-9 in individual gold medals at the last three CAC Championship meets and aims to go for the career sweep in February, 2015. If successful, he will join former Eagles Brian Craddock and Stephen Clendenin as the only men’s swimmers in CAC history to win all 12 individual events in a four-year career.
Clendenin is the only men’s swimmer in conference history to win the Athlete of the Year award three times. Craddock, Justin Snyder and Dale Parker were two-time CAC Athlete of the Year award winners. UMW alumni Will Bruner and Nick Eckhoff were also nine-time first-team All-CAC honorees in individual events at the CAC Championship meets.
Former CAC member Catholic University was second in the CAC with six former student-athletes. John Cooper and Brent Rave led the Cardinals, each with eight first-team All-CAC awards.
CAC Men’s Swimming Silver Anniversary Team Honorees
Name, Final Year of Competition, Institution
Alex Anderson, Active (Senior in 2014-15), University of Mary Washington
Scott Baker, 2004, University of Mary Washington
Will Brunner, 2006, University of Mary Washington
Steve Cartwright, 2001, Catholic University of America
Austin Clark, 2012, University of Mary Washington
Stephen Clendenin, 2011, University of Mary Washington
John Cooper, 1997, Catholic University of America
Brian Craddock, 2006, University of Mary Washington
Josh Davies, 1997, Catholic University of America
Brad Dunn, 2011, University of Mary Washington
Nick Eckhoff, 2013, University of Mary Washington
Steven Fulcher, 2008, York College of Pa.
Cameron Hedquist, 2013, St. Mary’s College of Md.
Pat McGarrity, 1999, St. Mary’s College of Md.
Matt Mejia, 1993, University of Mary Washington
Luke Moss, 2007, University of Mary Washington
Greg Murtha, 2009, Marymount University, Va.
Billy Norfolk, 2012, University of Mary Washington
Dale Parker, 2007, University of Mary Washington
Brent Rave, 1996, Catholic University of America
Chris Rice, 1998, University of Mary Washington
Tim Selgas, 1997, University of Mary Washington
Justin Snyder, 2004, University of Mary Washington
Patrick Stinger, 2000, Catholic University of America
Chris Taylor, 1993, Catholic University of America
