Swartz Earns First Team Academic All-America Honors
7/12/2021 12:00:00 PM | Volleyball
East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State redshirt senior Lauren Swartz (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has earned College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) First Team Academic All-America honors, as announced on Monday.Â
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Perhaps the most competitive single-sport team in the CoSIDA Academic All-America program, Swartz were among the 21 athletes chosen from around the country.  Of the 21, all are juniors, seniors, or graduate students, and just three of the selections came from the Big Ten Conference (two made the First Team). Swartz and third team pick Cindy Tran are the only two to maintain perfect 4.0 GPA's in both undergraduate and graduate work.Â
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Swartz, who graduated from Michigan State with an undergraduate degree in economics and a master's in marketing research, completed both degrees with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. As a senior, she earned the Presidents Award, given to the graduating MSU student-athlete with the highest grade-point average. She is a four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors this spring for the fourth time as well.Â
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The 6-6 Swartz was the team's Most Improved Player as a freshman in 2016 and was the team's Kirkby Scholar-Athlete Award winner twice. She appeared in 61 career matches over her four varsity seasons, and also participated in countless outreach activities during her time in East Lansing.Â
Swartz was a third team Academic All-America selection in 2019 and is now the third two-time Academic All-America pick in volleyball program history. Her predecessors - Dana Cooke (1995/1996) and Samantha McLean (2018/2019)  were both third team selections in their first year before earning first team honors as seniors. Swartz is MSU's seventh all-time Academic All-America honoree, a group which includes Val Sterk, Jenilee Rathje, Kristen Kelsay, and Rachel Minarick in addition to Cooke and McLean.
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Perhaps the most competitive single-sport team in the CoSIDA Academic All-America program, Swartz were among the 21 athletes chosen from around the country.  Of the 21, all are juniors, seniors, or graduate students, and just three of the selections came from the Big Ten Conference (two made the First Team). Swartz and third team pick Cindy Tran are the only two to maintain perfect 4.0 GPA's in both undergraduate and graduate work.Â
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Swartz, who graduated from Michigan State with an undergraduate degree in economics and a master's in marketing research, completed both degrees with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. As a senior, she earned the Presidents Award, given to the graduating MSU student-athlete with the highest grade-point average. She is a four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors this spring for the fourth time as well.Â
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The 6-6 Swartz was the team's Most Improved Player as a freshman in 2016 and was the team's Kirkby Scholar-Athlete Award winner twice. She appeared in 61 career matches over her four varsity seasons, and also participated in countless outreach activities during her time in East Lansing.Â
Swartz was a third team Academic All-America selection in 2019 and is now the third two-time Academic All-America pick in volleyball program history. Her predecessors - Dana Cooke (1995/1996) and Samantha McLean (2018/2019)  were both third team selections in their first year before earning first team honors as seniors. Swartz is MSU's seventh all-time Academic All-America honoree, a group which includes Val Sterk, Jenilee Rathje, Kristen Kelsay, and Rachel Minarick in addition to Cooke and McLean.
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