Gunn High grad Rachael Acker, a junior-to-be on the University of California women’s swim team, was named to the Capital One Academic All-America Division I Women’s At-Large third team.
Acker sports a 3.93 GPA as a French major. She aspires to attend medical school, works in a biology lab on campus and was named first-team Pac-12 All-Academic earlier this spring.
In the pool, Acker helped Cal to an NCAA title in the 800 free relay this past March. She also was a member of the third-place 400 free relay and placed 11th in the 200 free and 14th in the 100 free individually at the national championships.
Acker was a key factor in Cal’s Pac-12 team title, as well, swimming legs on the victorious 400 and 800 free relays and reaching the finals in both the 100 and 200 free. As a freshman in 2013, Acker captured the Pac-12 crown in the 200 free.
She is the first women’s swimmer named an Academic All-American since Elli Overton in 2000. She was chosen from among the more than 100 student-athletes from around the country who qualified for Capital One All-District At-Large teams, as voted by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). In order to qualify for the ballot, each nominee must have been a starter or important reserve and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s contests while earning at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA.
Synchronized swimming
Palo Alto’s Chesnie Cheung has earned a berth on the US Synchronized Swimming 12U National Team again, her second berth in as many years.
Cheung will compete in the National Age Group Championships from June 27-July 5 in Federal Way, Wash. After that, she’ll be training with her national squad teammates in Riverside for about six weeks starting July 7 and compete at the Age Group Pan American Championships from Aug. 12-16.
Head coach for 12U team is Sara Lowe from Stanford.
Cheung will be a seventh-grader in August at Jordan Middle School. She has been swimming in the sport for six years.
Tennis
Sacred Heart Prep grad Alysa Kohrs, a freshman at MIT, earned NCAA Division III All-America honors in singles this week from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
Kohrs won a pair of matches at the 2014 NCAA Division III Women’s Singles Tennis Championships in Claremont before falling in the quarterfinals to the No. 1 seed, 6-1, 6-2. Kohrs, the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Rookie of the Year, finished her outstanding first season with All-America honors and a 21-8 singles record.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports